India was the country that made even the greatest leg-spinner of all time, Shane Warne, despair. “Tubs, we’re jam-packed,” Warne told his captain Mark Taylor. Sachin Tendulkar, on his debut in Chennai in 1998, had greeted him with a straight four, hitting over cover and then through mid-wicket, en route to a winning 155. In the three Test tours here, Warne averaged 43.1.
Here’s a brief look at the challenges Rehan Ahmed faces as England’s leg-spinner in India. Only three men – Richie Benaud, twice, Adil Rashid and Danish Kaneria – have taken 15 wickets in a series while bowling leg spin in India. In total, overseas leg-spinners average 43.2.
Even Indian leg-spinners have been marginalized: “Lack of leg-spinners in India is a worrying concern,” read the headline of a recent post by former leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan. Subhash Gupte is the only classic leg-spinner to take 100 Test wickets for India; Anil Kumble and Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, who bowl much faster, come in a category of their own.
Leg spin is often curiously frowned upon on Indian pitches. Wickets like the one in Hyderabad reward the accuracy of finger spinners in the first Test rather than the extra mystique of wrist spinners. The slowness of many deliveries also hurts leg-spinners, allowing batsmen to meet the ball and react to spin both while pitching and swinging back; Kumble and Chandrasekhar adapted extra quickly.
Ahmed’s stay in Vizag, after a modest score of 2-138 from 30 overs in Hyderabad, can be partly explained by England’s culture: the regime’s recognition that the persistence of selection helps in fearless cricket. This also showed England’s belief in his abilities; Ahmed’s spirited batting makes him an asset to the team even when he is playing at his best at the moment. The wicket for the second Test, which offers more bounce and less spin than last week, also makes wrist spin more valuable: India recalled their own wrist spinner, left-armer Kuldeep Yadav.
Despite all the assumptions that Ahmed might end up being a better batsman than a bowler, he has certainly justified his selection in Vizag. Ahmed took a match score of 6-153 from 41.3 overs when Ravichandran ended India’s second innings by persuading Ashwin to poke Ben Foakes; Warne has taken that many wickets only once in nine Tests in India.
This was justification for Ben Stokes’ delicate deployment of Ahmed. Stokes enabled Ahmed to bowl sweeping spells, rather than the traditional style of English leg-spinners breaking the partnership, hurriedly fending off the attack after a few hard tries. This allowed him to get into a rhythm and avoid the tendency of wrist spinners to show too much variation too early, neglecting their stock balls.
Ahmed had to wait first. On opening day, Ahmed was not introduced until he was 60. Yet he bowled almost continuously for the rest of the day. Some of Ahmed’s loose balls in the entry-exit areas scored a single goal instead of a boundary; One of them won a wicket by chance as Srikar Bharat took a long bounce and slapped it to backward point. The next day, with Jasprit Bumrah slipping with a broken leg, Ahmed showed his infinite value by deceiving the ankle spinner’s tail.
But in the second innings, with England facing a 143-run deficit, the rest of the attack tiring after just two sessions off and Joe Root nursing a thumb injury, Ahmed had to be used much more prominently. This time, Ahmed ranked fifth at the end of the second day instead of 60th place. He bowled a spell of 11 overs either side of lunch on the third day.
Ahmed’s uncertain start on day three, falling behind twice and hitting Shubman Gill’s first back four, highlighted that leg spin is a work in progress. He’s 19 and playing just his 15th first-class game, how could he not?
Still, there was ample evidence of England’s excitement. Ahmed has bowled faster than any other innings of this series so far: around 1.5 mph faster than the second over in Hyderabad, which has given India’s batsmen less time. Vizag has no turn in Hyderabad; Ahmed found more drift rather than rotation. His three wickets gave a glimpse of Ahmed’s qualities: Rajat Patidar succumbed to a delivery that slid but was slower and bounced less; Bharat mistimed the ball by bouncing it further.
Best of all was the final blow: Ashwin evaded a perfect leg-break while Foakes completed another terrific catch. The ball that would have removed Ashwin was 55 mph, 3.5 mph more than the ball that trapped Patidar. This showed that Ahmed could both bowl faster and develop subtle variations. For all the temptation to bring out googlies and top spinners – especially for Ahmed, who is returning from an even more awkward leg break – Warne, once impressed by the 13-year-old Ahmed, has shown that the most valuable change can be all-out. less flashy: slightly more pace or slightly wider bowling at the crease.
It was an encouraging response from Ahmed after a rocky introduction to Test cricket in India. Ahmed might even dare to hope that the best is yet to come in the Vizag Test as he ended the day with a couple of boundaries after being promoted to the rank of night hawk.