Kevin Pietersen feels that more than England’s Bazball approach with the bat, it’s how their spinners bowl that will dictate their performance in the Test series against India in early 2024.
England is scheduled to tour India to take part in the much-awaited five-match Test series from January to March 2024. This will be India’s third series and England’s second in the 2023-2025 World Test Championship cycle.
England last visited India for a Test series in 2020-21 and after winning the first Test in Chennai, they suffered three consecutive defeats and lost the series 3-1.
The next tour will be England’s first Test series in India under captain Ben Stokes (if fit and available) and coach Brendon McCullum. Under this pair of players, England played a very aggressive brand of Test cricket known as “buzz ball”.
For the past 10 years, it has been very difficult for visiting teams to win Test matches in India. India have not lost a domestic Test series in the last 10 years and only three times in 1986-87. England’s approach to buzz balls is expected to pose a completely different kind of challenge for the home side. However, Pietersen believes the buzz ball is unlikely to be England’s deciding factor in the Test series.
Petersen told Wisden.com, “Well, I don’t know [how Buzz Ball will be played in India]. Because it’s not an approach.” I played Buzzball and was very successful here. ”
Pietersen cited aggressive batting as contributing to India’s Test success. In nine Tests for this country, he scored 703 runs, the fifth highest for England at an average of 43.93 and a strike rate of 60. No other English batsman has scored more runs at a faster pace in Tests in India. In fact, his strike rate is the fifth highest among all visiting batsmen with him scoring 700 runs in Tests in India.
While the focus is on buzz balls and attacking shots, Pietersen believes England’s spinners will play a bigger role in the upcoming Test series in India. “It’s about the performance of the English spinners. When we came here, we beat India in 2012. Monty Panesar and Graham Swann are the ones who made a difference for us. I did.”
England remains the last team to win a Test series in India. They achieved this during his 2012/13 tour. After losing the first Test, he made a strong comeback and won in the second innings, winning the series 2-1.
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As mentioned by Petersen, Swann and Panesar played a key role in this victory. Swann took 20 wickets in his four matches at 24.75 runs each and Panesar took 17 wickets in his three matches at 26.82 runs.
England have somewhat of a lack of quality spinners, as shown in the 2023 Ashes when top spinner Jack Leach was ruled out and Moeen Ali was recalled from retirement. It’s missing. Moeen announced his retirement from Test cricket soon after the series ended.
During England’s last tour of India in 2020/21, Leach was the bowler of choice, taking 18 wickets from four Tests at 28.72. He is expected to lead their spin attack again, with his replacements likely to include Rehan Ahmed, Will Jacks and Liam Dawson.
Pietersen reiterated the importance of England’s spinners performing well and said that India’s batting is not necessarily as tough as recent results suggest.
“This is how England spinners bowl. Don’t worry about the buzz balls. They’ll definitely bat because it’s the most beautiful place to bat. The best place to bat in the first innings Whether you get enough runs depends on how the spinner bowls.”
Petersen speaks to Wisden.com on the sidelines of Legends League Cricket, where the final match is currently being played in Surat Did. ,India. Pietersen, who plays for India’s Capitals, has a strike rate of 167 in which he has scored 113 runs in four matches and is expected to feature in Qualifier 2 today (December 7).
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