India v England: Michael Atherton questions whether England need a third spinner in their XI
Sunday 27 November 2016 16:52, UK
Michael Atherton has questioned whether England need a third spinner in their XI following Adil Rashid's emergence as the side's premier spin bowler.
With Zafar Ansari ruled out with a back injury, the tourists drafted in Gareth Batty for the third Test against India but the Surrey off-spinner bowled just five overs on day two in Mohali with Alastair Cook turning to both Rashid and Moeen Ali ahead of the 39-year-old.
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Given that Cook also has Joe Root as a potential spin option, Atherton feels England may be better off strengthening another area of the side rather than persisting with a largely unused third spinner in the final two Tests.
"I think the key difference is the way Adil Rashid is bowling - he's bowling beautifully - and the faith Alastair Cook has in him," he told Sky Sports. "He didn't have that in Bangladesh and probably at the start of this series as well.
"Once you know you can throw the ball to Adil and he'll give you 20 overs on a day like today when there isn't a lot of turn in the pitch, and you've got Moeen and a few overs from Joe Root - do you really need a third spinner?
"What do you do with the extra man? Do you go with the extra seamer to apply pressure for longer, particularly when there is reverse swing, or could you actually get another batsman in if it's going to be a low-scoring Test match with a result a certainty?
"Those are the two options, obviously Gareth Batty was underused today but there is a second innings. You have to bowl a side out twice and you don't know what is going to happen on fourth and fifth days."
England will now believe that they will be in with a chance when it comes to the fourth and fifth days in Mohali after picking up four wickets in the evening session to reduce India to 204-6, before an unbeaten seventh-wicket stand of 67 between Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja took the hosts to within 12 of England's first innings 283 by the close.
"It's evenly poised," Atherton said. "I thought that was an excellent day for England. At 148-2 there was a lot of danger knocking around with [Cheteshwar] Pujara and [Virat] Kohli set. The way England bowled in the afternoon, I thought was excellent.
"There were some really interesting fields set by Cook, he'd given it a lot of thought how to bowl and set fields to Kohli and they got their rewards after tea - albeit with a long-hop that was belted into the deep.
"But it was a brilliant catch from [Chris] Woakes and that lifted everybody, it had a transformational effect on the team with that run out from [Jos] Buttler. They got their just rewards from an afternoon of pressure."
Watch coverage of day three of the third Test between India and England in Mohali from 3.45am on Monday, live on Sky Sports 2.
