After four days of fascinating cricket, the fifth day turned into an anti-climax as India wrapped up England within the first half an hour of the day’s play. By the virtue of this comprehensive victory, India defeated England in a Test series for the first time since 2008. For England, a decent game at Chennai, the venue of the fifth test, is the need of the hour as they cannot afford further embarrassment.
Renowned commentator Alan Wilkins criticized England’s step motherly treatment of spinners in the domestic circuit after the side’s loss in Mumbai. Wilkins mentioned after the retirement of Graeme Swann, not a single spinner has looked decent enough. He was also of the view that Moeen Ali was nothing more than an ordinary part time bowler.
“England have so many areas of concern to address after this resounding defeat,” Wilkins said. “The overall selection of the bowling department has to be questioned. If England believe that Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid are their best spinners, then there has to be back-up to support them. Zafar Ansari and Gareth Batty were clearly not up to the mark, so the workload on Ali and Rashid was even greater. The deficiencies of England’s spinners in this series goes a long way beyond their performances on this tour.”
Asking for a complete review of the system in England, Wilkins further added, “It has to do with the way spinners are involved in the domestic game, the pitches that are prepared in England and a culture that spin is not as effective as seam in the English game.” Where is the development structure for spin bowling in English cricket? After Swann and Panesar in India in 2012, where was the line of succession to those two? Moeen Ali was drafted into the side as a part-time spinner only two years ago. He is still a novice compared to Ashwin or Jadeja. England has a system that clearly needs a complete review,” said a disappointed Wilkins.
The commentator though fully praised Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin for their respective superlative displays. “A thoroughly clinical performance by India proving that they are virtually impregnable at home. It’s not just the fact that Kohli and Ashwin are the flag-bearers with pinnacle efforts throughout the series, it is the culture that Virat Kohli has introduced to Team India that sets the bar higher than ever before in respect of fitness and skillsets. Formidable at home. England have so many questions to answer, this is a beating that will sound alarm bells in the English game,” Wilkins concluded.