'You can't be just bowling the orthodox line when someone is sweeping you.'
England's unconventional batting pyrotechnics blew away the Indian spinners in the first Test in Hyderabad.
The England batters resorted to sweeps and reverse sweeps to disrupt the spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel as the visitors bounced back in fine style after conceding a 190 run first innings lead to win by 28 runs and leave the hosts shell-shocked.
India's coaching team along with the bowlers will be working hard to devise a strategy to counter the horizontal bat shots of the England batters square of the wicket, while the batters will aim to counter the visiting spinners after falling for 202 in the second innings in the series opener.
Hyderabad's former off-spinner Kanwaljit Singh, who is regarded one of the best spinners in domestic cricket not to have played for India, had some advice for the home spinners ahead of the second Test in Visakhapatnam.
"These guys are playing at the highest level and if someone is playing the sweep shot, you need to know which line to bowl. You can't be just bowling the orthodox line when someone is sweeping you. You have to change the line. You have a proper field and don't give him the room where he is playing the sweep shot," the former spinner told Rediff.com.
"I wouldn't say bowl the negative line, but the sweep shot becomes difficult to execute the if the spinner changes the line from which he is managing to hit that shot."
"Generally, the batsmen generally sweep from the orthodox line which the off-spinner bowls. They tend those hit sweeps off those deliveries. So you got to cramp him so much that he doesn't get the swing of the bat -- either you slow down your line and pitch it up where he can only play the drive or push it in such a way that he doesn't get the width or can't swing his bat."
Kanwaljit had an illustrious two decade long first class career during which he took 369 wickets in 111 matches before he took up coaching. He had stints as bowling coach for Hyderabad, assistant coach for the now defunct Deccan Chargers in the inaugural IPL season in 2008. The offie also coached the Hyderabad Under-19 team and also had stint as the Nagaland head coach in domestic cricket in 2018.
The Bazball tactics once gone went to plans for England as their batters used the sweep and reverse sweep to good effect to take apart the Indian spinners in the second innings.
In fact, it was the first time that Ashwin and Jadeja conceded more than 100 runs each in the second innings of a Test match in India.
According to The CricViz Analyst on X: 'In their Hyderabad win, England's batters attacked 54% of the balls bowled to them. That's the highest figure for any team in India since records began in 2006.'
'England have scored 57 runs with the reverse sweep so far in this Test - the most in a Test by any team since records began,' it further adds.
Kanwaljit believes England's batters will come out all guns blazing in the second Test and once again look to dominate the spinners, hence the Indians need to come up with a clear game plan to stem the rot.
"You got to have a plan if someone is playing the sweep and the reverse sweep, you have to know which line and length to bowl. They have to come up with a plan because since the sweep has worked so well for England they will play it again to shatter the confidence of our spinners.
The spinners also have to be very smart. If the batters are countering you by playing the sweep shot regularly, you got to try something different like changing the angle by coming round the wicket so he doesn't get the width. There are various ways you can use the crease, you don't have to bowl from just one part of the crease, you can use the width of the crease, that bit of angle even one percent change can put some doubts in the mind of the batters because the angle changes, the turn changes."
Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who is set to replace the injured Ravindra Jadeja, could add much needed variety to the Indian bowling attack. But Kuldeep hasn't played much Test cricket recently, with his last game coming against Bangladesh in December 2022 and he has only played eight Tests in total since making his debut in 2017.
"Kuldeep is a different bowler, but England's batsmen will look to attack him and bat in the same way they did in the first Test. He and the other spinners will have to think out of the box, pull your length back or change your tracjetory or something else to stop them from sweeping. England are using the sweep shot as a weapon and if they manage to dominate Kuldeep like they did the other bowlers in Hyderabad then we will find ourselves in trouble once again," Kanwaljit reasoned.
Having bowled more than 25,000 deliveries in first class, the 65 year old certainly knows a trick or two on how to stop batters from playing the sweep shot on Indian tracks. He has a simple solution for the Indian spinners for the second Test in Visakhapatnam, where the pitch is again expected to spin.
"The England batsmen swept well from the orthodox line in the first Test, so what the Indian spinners can do in such a case is that they change the line and have most of their fielders on the leg side.
"Then let him sweep as much as he wants, you will have protection there. The batsman could get a top edge or he could miscue the sweep. You should have a fielder at 45 (short fine leg inside the circle), deep square leg and short leg, if you have these three guys the batsmen will have to do something different. If you are sticking to the middle and leg stump he can only loft over mid-on, if he is looking to make room you will have someone at mid-off and the covers."
"The important thing is the spinners have to be very accurate, they have to pitch in the right line on the middle and leg stump. If give you even a bit of room the batsman will play the cut shot. So in this scenario what will come into play is the experience of the bowler and his control over line and length."
I would say just bowl on the middle and leg stump line and have your fielders in place on the leg side. If you bowl on the off-stump line, the batsman will look to play the cut shot or reverse sweep."
Kanwaljit also called up on the Indian spinners, especially someone experienced like Ashwin to try the yorker and surprise the England's batters.
"The spinners can also bowl good yorkers. If the batsman is trying to sweep just bowl a yorker and try to bowl him or leg before wicket. That will also put the batsmen in two minds because he will be thinking that this spinner also bowls yorkers he might be a big wary while sweeping next time.
The batsman is playing with your mind by trying the sweep shot or reverse sweep so you as a spinner can also do something different by trying the yorker."
