Indian legendary leg-spinner Anil Kumble believes spinners will play a major role during India’s upcoming tour of England.
India will play three-match T20I series, three-match ODI series and five-match Test series during their English tour, starting from July 3. Kumble confidently believes that the second half of English summer’s wickets will be more suitable for the spinners.
The former Indian spinner said on this, “Spinners will definitely play a major role on this tour of England. In the second half of the summer, we do know that the wickets will be more suitable for them. There will be wear and tear on the wickets, and spinners will come into play much earlier than in the first half.”
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The 47-year-old further added, “Conditions in the first half – in the months of May and June – are more challenging in England (for spinners) because of the rain and dampness.”
When Kumble was asked whether we can see more than one spinner in India’s playing XI during that English tour, he said that it will depend on the pitches.
Kumble said on that, “Maybe, yes. But again, it will all depend on the surface they are playing.”
Kumble feels very positive on the Indian cricket team for their upcoming England tour. The former Indian Test captain believes that India has a good all-round unit with enough experiences.
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Kumble explained, “I feel we possess a good all-round unit. We have a strong bowling group which can pick 20 wickets consistently. If you look at the batting line-up, we possess a lot of experience. On an average, the number of Test matches played by our batsmen stands at about 50. Also, the experience of having toured there before will definitely help as they will be aware of the conditions.”
While currently there is a lot of talks going on yo-yo test, the fitness test of Indian cricket team where some players are failing on it and being dropped from the national team, Kumble also shared his view on it.
The former Indian head coach said, “I am sure every player would have been told that this is the benchmark. This is the test and this is the number you need to get or else you are not going to be there is what would have probably been communicated to them (by the board).”
