'Jadeja Is Not Murali Or Warne...' - Kevin Pietersen’s Valuable Insights To England To Tackle India Spinners

During his knock of 186 in Mumbai, Kevin Pietersen attacked Ravichandran Ashwin through and over the off side and he revealed that he managed to do it after he started picking his ‘doosra’. India has picked up four spinners in the squad that will face England in the five-match Test series and they are Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.

Kevin Pietersen’s Advice To England Batters On How To Play Indian Spinners On Rank Turners

“I picked Ashwin’s ‘doosra’. He used to load the ball at the back of his run-up, and I think he still does that now. He never ran up with the ball in his hand as an off-spinner and changed it late for the doosra; you can’t do that. He loaded it up early,” said Pietersen.

“I was 100 percent confident when he was going to bowl it and you’d see how many times I hit him over the off side. I’d see the doosra at the back of his mark and, because he had a stacked leg-side field because the ball was turning so much, I’d think ‘four or six.’”

Barring Ravichandran Ashwin, the left-arm finger spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel will be a threat of equal intensity for the English batters. Kevin Pietersen says against Ravindra Jadeja, it is all about the technique of the batter. He explains: “I faced Jadeja a lot. It’s about technique. Jadeja is not Murali and he’s not Shane Warne. He’s a left-arm spinner who bowls it one way and occasionally gets the ball to slide on. If your technique is solid enough to play the ball that skids on, you should be fine.”

Kevin Pietersen advised England batters that they must not get trapped in front on pads or get their stumps off against the left-arm spin duo of Axar and Jadeja. Axar Patel was the second-highest wicket-taker for the hosts when England last toured India in 2021. He took 27 wickets in just three matches at an average of 10.59 which included four five-wicket hauls in the series.

“If your feet are good, and you are not planting your front foot and you are playing down the line of the ball, you should be fine. Just make sure you are not getting bowled or lbw. If you nick it to slip, no problem at all. If you get bowled or lbw that’s a big issue. You have so much time to wait for the ball and then judge length or line and then move,” he said.

England would like to recreate history by repeating 2012 as they get prepared to show their Bazball in Indian conditions. However, the Bazball might fail on the rank turners in India and the hosts will take full advantage of the spin-friendly tracks to demolish the English batters. England has also included four spinners in their squad and they are Jack Leach, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, Rehan Ahmed with Joe Root also capable of bowling a few overs.