England’s victory over India in the first Test at Hyderabad drew a lot of praise for the side backing their spinners, some of whom were not as experienced. The young leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed had only one Test behind him while Tom Hartley made his debut in Hyderabad.
The risk paid off as England managed to get the victory over India who have been historically dominant under home conditions beating them with the spinners and the scintillating knock by Ollie Pope who scored 196 in the second innings to take the game away from the Indian side.
Brendon McCullum, England’s Test coach, took the example of Australia’s ace spinner, Nathan Lyon who did not have the best first-class record behind him when he first got picked for the Australian side.
McCullum said, “Let’s not forget – and I think this is quite a pertinent point – but Nathan Lyon had only played a handful of first-class games and averaged 40-odd when he first got picked for Australia.”
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Lyon now has 517 wickets in 127 Tests and was the leading wicket-taker during Australia’s World Test Championship winning campaign in 2023.
The coach added that it was more of a gamble and backed their experience and judgement to help them out and it paid off for the England side. Brendon said, “When you see guys you think are good enough and who you think are going to suit the conditions, it’s sort of horses for courses. You’ve got to back your judgement.”
McCullum believes that the backing of Tom Hartley despite the debutant going for 131 runs and picking two wickets in the first innings was an educated guess. The coach concluded by saying, “Sometimes, you’ve got to be a little bit brave with selections. If you like a character and you like their skill set, and you think it can be suited to conditions, then it’s kind of an educated punt.”
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Hartley went on to be a crucial element in their Test win in Hyderabad as he turned around his fortunes in the second innings where he finished with figures of 7/62 in 26.2 overs to lead England to an iconic victory.
The head coach also revealed his intentions of playing with an all-spin attack if needed as per the conditions as well for the coming games in the sub-continent.
England will look to continue their momentum as they go up against India once again in the second Test which will take place in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh as the touring side aim to break India’s dominant record at home having not lost a Test series in India since 2012.
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