England have taken a bit of punt but I’m ready, says spinner Tom Hartley on India Test tour

Hartley, who took 19 wickets in last year’s County Championship, hasn’t played a Test but has appeared in two ODIs for England, and he is banking on his white-ball experience to deliver in the Subcontinent.

FILE PHOTO: Hartley is part of the 16-member squad picked by the England board last month for the five-Test series against India, beginning in Hyderabad on January 25. | Photo Credit: AFP

Uncapped young spinner Tom Hartley feels England has taken a “bit of a punt” by picking him for the Test tour of India but says the conditions will actually suit his bowling and he will look to live up to the expectations.

The 24-year-old left-arm spinner is part of the 16-member squad picked by the England board last month for the five-Test series against India, beginning in Hyderabad on January 25.

“With the conditions being completely different to English conditions, they’ve really analysed what has done well in India and what will do well,” Hartley told the PA news agency.

“It’s nice to see people recognise that I might be the bowler to go out in India and do well. When people have confidence in you like that, it’s fantastic. I just feel all that confidence has been passed on to me and I can’t wait to go out there. My stats might not be the best in championship cricket but I bowl very similar to Axar [Patel] and [Ravindra] Jadeja.

“They’re taking a bit of a punt but I feel like I’ve proved myself in the training camps that I’ve been on and I deserve to get a go.”

Hartley, who took 19 wickets in last year’s County Championship, hasn’t played a Test but has appeared in two ODIs for England, and he is banking on his white-ball experience to deliver in the Subcontinent.

“Although I haven’t played much cricket out there, I’m going with a feeling of what I need to bowl. I see a lot of similarities between my white-ball bowling here and red-ball bowling out there,” he said.

“I feel like the pace, the revs you want to put on it and the shape of the ball will be very similar to white-ball areas – you just want to bowl that little bit fuller. As much as Indian batters are good players of spin, the conditions should be in my favour. You’ve just got to try not to over-complicate things and keep things simple and keep the stumps in play.

India’s spinners are great but can we perform as well as them. There will be a lot of fight in us. I won’t be playing as a frontline spinner, so there won’t be tons of pressure on me.”

Hartley is one of the four specialist spinners picked up by England. The others include Jack Leach, Rehan Ahmed and uncapped Shoaib Bashir.