Ian Chappell Opens Up On England Batsmen's 'Bizarre' Attempts To Cope With Indian Spinners

Former Australian captain Ian Chappell has dissected England batsmen’s mistakes against Indian spinners in the ongoing four-match series. England’s trial by spin began in the second Test that stretched to the third, which they lost comprehensively by ten wickets. Ian Chappell mentioned that India judged England’s weaknesses against spin and exploited it methodically.

India rode on magnificent bowling spells from Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin in the second and third Test to inflict heavy defeats on England, who won the first convincingly. The third Test in Ahmedabad shockingly finished in two days as the visitors crumbled for 112 and 81 in two innings. Patel picked up 11 wickets in that game while Ashwin collected seven, supporting the left-arm spinner perfectly.

Ian Chappell claimed that ‘bizarre’ is an apt word to describe England’s batsmen attempts to neutralize India’s spinners. The former Australian cricketer highlighted that India’s decision to play three spinners in Ahmedabad was due to England’s feeble game against spin in Chennai – bar Joe Root. Hence, the home side forecasted mental scarring and used it to their benefit moving forward.

“Virat Kohli described as the day-night third Test, in Ahmedabad as ‘bizarre’, word that aptly describes England’s batsmen’s attempts to cope with India’s spinners. India’s decision to select three spinners for the Test was prompted by England’s batting on a tricky Chennai pitch, where their batsmen – Joe Root excepted – displayed a distinct ineptitude against spin. India correctly calculated that would result in mental scarring and used it to their advantage,” Chappell wrote in his column for ESPN Cricinfo.

England batsmen didn’t trust their defence: Ian Chappell

The 77-year old further wrote that from the point Jonny Bairstow perished to Axar Patel via a straighter delivery, England seemed confused. Hence, the tourists did not trust their defence and kept attacking the Indian spinners. Chappell identified that the batsmen’s lack of feet movement to let the hosts’ spinners settle was a classic example.

“From the moment Axar Patel conjured up the ultimate thimble-and-pea trick to dismiss Jonny Bairstow with a straight delivery, England were in a spin. Is the ball over there? No, it’s here. When faced with a serious spin challenge, the England batsmen didn’t trust their defence, which eventually resulted in panicked attempts to attack the Indian spinners. Their choice to reverse-sweep rather than to leave their crease to change their bowler’s length is a classic example,” he added.

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