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Jack Leach takes heart from Swann-Panesar, but backs his own 'strengths' to defy India
England have been the only team which has won more than one Test match and a Test series in India in the past decade and they are not short of confidence as another four-match series is all upon the cricketing world. There are great expectations from both sides, and largely, this series is being built up as the one between the English batsmen and the Indian spinner.
However, the tourists are not downplaying their spin resources and they made it absolutely clear that they are coming in with confidence and back their spinners to make the impact when the pacer Jofra Archer openly challenged the hosts saying the English team can’t be 'outspun' by the hosts.
One among the three spinners the tourists are coming with in the big series against India, Jack Leach too exuded the same level of confidence that Archer had shown on the spinners. The left-arm spinner who is on his maiden tour to India said in his first virtual interaction to the press that he is coming with the mindset to make an impact in the outcome of the series and that the presence of a lot of right hander batsmen in the Indian top order, makes his cases for success a bit easier.
“I definitely think I can make an impact in this series, obviously we have got three days training and I am not sure what the wicket is going to be like or anything, so not looking too far ahead but definitely want to make an impact and they have got quite a lot of right-handers, so I see that as a good thing for me," Leach said in the virtual press conference.
Leach and his partner in crime—Dominic Bess and Moeen Ali will have their task cut out as they will bowl under the pressure of leading the bowling attack given more assistance available for the spinners on the Indian pitches. But, history suggests it has not been that easier for overseas spinners to shine bright on Indian pitches and most of them have only been plummeted by the home batsmen.
Leach too realised the potential and quality of the Indian batting order, but he relishes the prospect of bowling against batsmen who he believes will certainly cause problems to his side. The English think tank has done a lot of hard work on analysing the batting technique of Indian batsmen, but Leach does not want to complicate his bowing tactics and rather he wants to enjoy the opportunity to bowl on pitches conducive to spin bowling as the conditions in India can be as good as a spinner can dream of.
"We've been watching some analysis on the Indian batsmen and they're all going to cause certain problems for us. Playing in SL tracks is a good experience to draw on. It's mainly about doing what I do well and not complicating things too much,” Leach added.
"They are obviously a quality side and have come back off a great win in Australia, but I think it is just a great opportunity for all of us to test ourselves against probably the best side in the world and to do here in India, my first time in India.
"This is what the dream you have, to come to places like these. Obviously, it is a fantastic opportunity, and I want to enjoy it.”
Lessons from Swann and Panesar
The only time India lost a Test series at home in the past decade was in 2012 when the spin twins of Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar ran through their batting order in Mumbai and Kolkata. The duo presented a completely different set of challenges to the Indian batsmen and turned out they could not quite raise their game.
Swann defied batsmen with his guile, and change of pace and flight on the ball, while Panesar bowled at a brisk pace to extract maximum bounce off the pitches at the Wankhede Stadium and Eden Gardens.
Leach has studied what worked for Swan and Panesar and he did not hide his high regards for the duo who made the England team achieve something that was deemed pretty impossible before it was actually done. The fact that no other team could even come close to defeating India in a series for a long time established the grand success of the tactics of Swann and Panesar.
But, leach is pragmatic in his approach as he understands his own game and at least, to begin with, the series, he is willing to stick to his own strengths, instead of emulating what worked for his heroes in India.
"Monty and Swann are two bowlers I love to watch. I watch a lot of spin videos to try and take things from the spinners. Monty bowled at a quicker pace in India and that could be very tricky on a spinning wicket,” Leach said.
"I am probably not going to be bowling at the same speed. It is probably more about how the ball gets to the batsman in terms of trajectory. There have been other successful bowlers who didn't bowl as fast as Monty did. It is about sticking to my strengths and knowing what my optimum pace and then going up and down a little bit from there. Everyone has an optimum pace. It's important to stick to that as much as possible.”
Both Leach and Bess will have the task of taking wickets as well as stopping Indian batsmen from running away with the game by denying them loose balls. Cricket pundits have argued that overseas spinners have not been able to tighten their line and lengths against Indian batsmen in India and hence the visiting captains are forced to bring back their pacers to control the game, thereby taking away the major wicket-takers out of the attack.
England have enforcers in Jofra Archer and Mark Wood who can bring fire to the batsmen, and the old-aged guile of James Anderson and Stuart Broad can also be instrumental for England’s success in India, but for that to happen, the trio of Leach, Bess and Moeen Ali will have to be at the top of their game all the time in the series starting February 05.
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