Whenever a non-subcontinent team travels to India, the focus is on how the travelling batsmen handled the spinners.
But as in the last home series, the Indian pacers accounted for more wickets than spinners against South Africa and Bangladesh over five Tests.
And it is something England assistant coach Graham Thorpe is aware of and warned against focussing too much on spin considering India’s potent pace attack.
“One thing about the Indian bowling attack is that it is not just about spin. Their seam attack is also strong. We cannot be side-tracked completely and focus just on the spin side of things,” said Thorpe on Friday during a virtual interaction with the media.
“Playing spin will be important, of course. But with the Indian attack, we know that seam bowling is in play as well. India’s attack has developed into a very good one, and we are very aware of that.”
“In the training time that we have, we will be trying to find a nice balance between practising against both seamers and spinners,” added the former England middle-order batsman who played 100 Tests.
Commenting on the series and the challenge India poses at home, Thorpe said, “As a cricketer when you get to the highest level, this is the kind of series that you want to test yourself in."
“India at home is a real challenge. They are playing very good cricket. They are very strong at home and are coming off a series win in Australia. We have got some players who haven’t toured India so it will be a learning curve for some of them.”
When asked about the Indian batting line-up and plans for Virat Kohli, Thorpe said, “Virat is in one among that batting order which understands home conditions very well. The key for our bowling attack will be to bowl our 'best ball' as often as we can.”
“We need to have the runs on the board and then having the Indian batting order under pressure will be the key for us. To take the game deep will be an important aspect for England,” added the 51-year-old.
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