Another intriguing Test series beckons as Rohit Sharma-led India host Ben Stokes’ England in a five-match series that starts in Hyderabad on 25 January. England have had more disappointments than fun whenever they have travelled to India for a Test series, but one such exception is when the team led by Alastair Cook in 2012 went all the way to clinch the country’s first Test series on Indian soil in 28 years.
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Since then England have failed to replicate the same performance and are once again seen as the underdog in the upcoming assignment. One of the things that worked in England’s favour in 2012 was Kevin Pietersen playing a leading role with the bat and English spinners trumping their Indian counterparts.
How England decimated India on home soil
They had left-arm spinner Monty Panesar, who was in the form of his life back then, and offie Graeme Swann who was as equally consistent.
It was a rather clinical display from MS Dhoni-led Team India in the first Test in Ahmedabad. Virender Sehwag (117) and Cheteshwar Pujara (206*) had forged 90 runs between themselves after Sehwag’s century-plus stand with opener Gautam Gambhir. There were early signs of spinners having a say when Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha had combined to take 13 of the 20 England wickets at the Motera.
Monty Panesar is congratulated for his five-wicket haul against India in 2012 by Graeme Swann. Reuters
England were following on after they were dismissed for 191 while replying to India’s first innings total of 521, and it was in that follow on when Alastair Cook (176) led by example, along with Matt Prior’s 91 when England set the blueprint for the rest of the series. The duo’s knocks had led the visitors to 406, still not enough to set India a good target as the hosts chased down 77 with comfort, with Pujara scoring an unbeaten 41.
However, India weren’t prepared for what was to come next. The second Test was at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on what was a pitch that turned sharply, assisting the spinners well. And this is where England took advantage yet again, with Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann taking a whopping 19 out of 20 Indian wickets. India’s spinners, meanwhile, had been completely outperformed with Cook (122) and Kevin Pietersen (186) amassing centuries in the first innings.
In the same Test, Monty Panesar’s turning delivery to clean up Sachin Tendulkar in the first innings caught the eye of many. A delivery that could be compared to the late Shane Warne’s iconic Ball of the Century, but Panesar was in a league of his own back then.
India would then go on to suffer a batting collapse to be dismissed for 142 in the second innings, meaning England needed just 57 runs to win. And, on the fourth day morning, the visitors did it with ease, with Alastair Cook (18*) and Nick Compton (30*) sealing a 10-wicket win.
England take the lead
The caravan then headed to the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Once again, India were undone by the England spinners and this time, Steven Finn also joined the party. This time, however, it wasn’t a turning pitch as much as it was during the third Test in Mumbai. Yet, a majority of India’s batters had no answer to England’s spinners. It was a flat wicket, and despite this, Monty Panesar was able to capitalise and was the pick of the bowlers in the first innings, finishing with figures of 4/90 to dismiss India for 316. Although Pragyan Ojha and R Ashwin shared seven wickets between them, it wasn’t enough for the hosts to stop the England top-order led by Cook (190) from stealing the show.
England would go on to put 523 on board. Gautam Gambhir (40) and Virender Sehwag (49) had got off to a solid start but failed to capitalise. Pujara (8) and Sachin (5), who were supposed to establish a strong partnership following the dismissals of the openers, also perished, with Pujara getting involved in a mixup with Gambhir whereas Sachin took an edge off the bat off Swann’s delivery to be caught at slip by Jonathan Trott.
Alastair Cook celebrates scoring his fifty in the second Test against India in Mumbai in 2012. Sportzpics
The only good thing about India’s second innings batting was Ashwin’s resistance. The Chennai man, who had come into bat when India were 122/5, fought hard with an unbeaten 91 to take India to 247. And yet, the task was pretty much easy for England after they were set a target of just 41. They would chase it down with seven wickets to spare on the back of Ian Bell’s unbeaten 28.
The series was 2-1 heading to the fourth and final Test in Nagpur. With India looking to draw level in the series, the Nagpur Test was an even more closely fought contest. Alastair Cook (1) had a rare failure with the bat following England’s decision to bat first, but Trott (44), Pietersen (73), Root (73), Prior (57) and Swann (56) would play pivotal roles in England making 330. It was Day 2 when England ended their innings, and at the end of that day, India were in a precarious position at 87/4, with Kohli and Dhoni unbeaten. This time, however, Kohli (103) and Dhoni (99) would go on to forge a partnership for the ages — a 198-run stand that would eventually take India to 326/9 as they declared on Day 4.
England were equally resistant as India, in their second innings. An unbeaten 66 from Jonathan Trott led them to 161/3 at stumps on Day 4, and with seven wickets still to fall and India’s run chase still remaining, a draw was written all around.
Trott would get to his century off 232 balls after the first drinks break on Day 5, and despite losing Pietersen, fellow centurion Ian Bell (116*) and he would stitch a 208-run stand as England ended the day with a declared total of 352/4. That meant India lost the opportunity to level the series, but on the other hand, a jubilant England team bursted into celebrations.
Why have England failed to win Test series in India since?
England have toured India in 2016/17 and in 2021 since that Test series win in 2012. And in both the subsequent tours, facing spinners have been England’s major problem. In 2016, England were a team in transition with the likes of Haseeb Hameed and Ben Duckett in the squad, and their lack of experience of never having played in India before showed that the Three Lions had work to do on sub-continent soil. In that series, two of India’s four wins came through innings victories, which meant the England batters struggled.
In the 2021 tour, though, it was once again England’s top-order that was in focus. Chopping and changing of England’s openers hardly helped England with their cause, despite promising performances from Zak Crawley (53 in Ahmedabad) and Dom Sibley (87 in Chennai) Despite their only win in the series in Chennai, it’s that lack of consistency in the top-order that has hurt England in their last two tours to India.
This time around, England come to India with a Bazball approach but that has been criticised by experts, with some noting that it won’t work against India in India. “Well, I don’t know (how Bazball will play in India), because it’s not going to be about the Bazball approach. I played Bazball and I was very successful here,” Kevin Pietersen had told Wisden in December.
Whether Bazball works or not this time around, remains to be seen. But one thing is certain, it’s going to be a neck-to-neck contest with Indian spinners testing the England opposition on subcontinent tracks and how England will approach them.
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