IND vs ENG 2024: “We’re going to play on some absolute square turners” – Graeme Swann ahead of England’s Test tour of India

Former England spinner Graeme Swann has predicted that they are going to play on some absolute square turners. England last won a Test series in tough Indian conditions back in 2012 when Swann and Monty Panesar had delivered the goods for the team.

Thus, it has been more than a decade since the English team has savored success in the Indian conditions. Meanwhile, India won the previous Test series against England in home conditions by 3-1 in 2021.

It is well known that India is always a force to reckon with in their conditions and the spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin are known to breathe down the neck of the opposition batters.

Swann reckons uncapped Tom Hartley is Axar Patel-type bowler and he can play a key role in England’s success against India.

Speaking to Daily Mail, Graeme Swann said, “When I saw Tom in Sri Lanka last winter, he’d barely played any red-ball cricket, but he’s got control and sometimes in India you don’t have to be the biggest turner of the ball. You have to be an Axar Patel-type bowler, able to run up, be metronomic, put it on the spot, get a little bit of rotation on the ball, and let the pitch do the work. Let’s not beat about the bush, we’re going to play on some absolute square turners out there after what happened last time.”

Speaking about Rehan Ahmed, Swann reckons it is important for the leg-spinner to be confident as a spinner in Indian conditions to get the best out of himsel.

“He’s a young leggie and on his day he will get you five wickets. We have seen how good he can be already. There will be days when it might not come out quite right and he’ll be expensive, but he will always come out smelling of roses because he’s a brilliant character. He’s got a bit of swagger about him and I love that. I want him to start believing in himself more as a bowler. He believes in himself as a batsman but not as much yet as he should do with the ball,” Swann added.

Swann is also excited to see the return of Jack Leach to England’s Test squad. The former off-spinner feels England would have won the Ashes against Australia if Leach had been part of the squad.

“Jack is starting to believe now that he’s a world-class Test bowler and that’s what he needed. Probably 80 percent of the job is believing in yourself when you’re bowling and not panicking and worrying. I believe we would have won the Ashes last year had Jack been playing in those first two Tests. There’s no way we wouldn’t have bowled them out at Edgbaston had Jack been playing. I can’t wait to see him back,” Swann concluded.

India and England will take on each other in the first Test match from 25th January onwards at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad.