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It was really interesting to see the different approaches India’s top 4 took when playing England's on a dodgy surface spinners in the second innings. "Intent" aside, footwork was the biggest differentiator. A thread on technique against spin: #IndvEng
Rohit, for starters, only faced three balls of spin before being done in by a peach. He seemed a tad bit late on his defense, but you really can’t do much about a delivery like that. Can’t fault him for that one.
Shubman looked clear in his plans against both spinners. Leach was looking the more dangerous of the two, and Shubman played him accordingly, standing on off stump and playing off the back foot to account for the spin and drift before committing to his shot.
Compare this to how he played Bess. He was way more comfortable with the ball spinning into him, and it showed in the way he tried to attack him, scoring 19 runs off the 18 deliveries he faced. Shubman used his feet to stop Bess from finding his length, and it worked really well.
Pujara’s approach was a little different. He was standing on middle and seemed cautious against deliveries pitching within the stumps. He didn’t commit fully to the back or front foot like Shubman did, often waiting for deliveries to just spin past, or playing them late.
Now, this is a perfectly fine way of playing spin… but perhaps on a more placid wicket? On a day 5 Chepauk pitch with sharp turn and bounce for the newer ball, he was eventually done in by Leach who stuck to a great length, and got one to drift in and straighten a fair bit.
He looked in two minds about that delivery – his feet didn’t really move, his body weight wasn’t really forward, and his bat was at an angle.
I think Kohli played the spinners the best on day 5. He wasn’t nearly as attacking as Shubman, but made it a point to smother the ball on the front foot, whether attacking and defending.
Kohli generally does a really good job of this. He's not the tallest guy but really extends his reach to get to the ball. Check out these older photos below. Did your hamstrings just twinge? Mine did.
He got out in the first innings because he didn't get close enough to the ball (prob. should've played it off the back foot?), and also played down the wrong line. This time, he was really good at picking the length of the ball and getting to the ball before it could get to him.
This is what my school coach would’ve called “ball pe chadh ke khelna” (get on top of/climb into the ball)
If only I knew wtf he was talking about back then… maybe I wouldn’t be a tragic with a club cricket average of 12 writing threads about technique on Twitter.
If only I knew wtf he was talking about back then… maybe I wouldn’t be a tragic with a club cricket average of 12 writing threads about technique on Twitter.
I dunno if I'm 100% right about this stuff. I just know that digging into it is extremely satisfying. Let me know if you enjoyed this, I might do more of it through the series!
I wasn't joking about that average. @LICCsCricket @RadioCricket you might have a liability on your hands this season... 
