Opting to bat first after winning the toss in the IND vs ENG 5th Test, England were bowled out for 218 on the opening day. Thanks to the Indian spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin who registered a four-wicket and a five-wicket haul to their names, respectively
Graeme Swann. File pic
It was not plain capitulation. Rather, England succumbed to the pressure of standing up to a world-class band of Indian spinners at the "absolute top of their game", feels former spinner Graeme Swann.
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Opting to bat first after winning the toss in the IND vs ENG 5th Test, England were bowled out for 218 on the opening day. Thanks to the Indian spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin who registered a four-wicket and a five-wicket haul to their names, respectively.
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When asked about the reason for England's downfall in the ongoing series, Swann told PTI Videos, "Well you got to look at like I say you have got world-class spinners at the absolute top of their game. "So I don't think it's a capitulation from England, just succumbing to the pressure maybe, so there's two ways of looking at it. "England certainly knows they can do better but for India, you should be championing the fact that you have got an absolute world-beater at the moment, and he is bowling like a dream."
The hosts finished the Day 1 of the IND vs ENG 5th Test at 135 for the loss of one wicket. With skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill standing tall after Yashasvi Jaiswal's fiery half-century, Indians registered the opening day to their names. Summing up, Swann called it a "disappointing" day for England.
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"Disappointing day at the end of it, it started so well, with the ball sort of swinging and seaming around so lavishly. To not lose any wickets in that early spell was brilliant from England's point of view," said the 44-year-old former England spinner. "But then they came up against Kuldeep who is in rich form at the moment and he was just too good for them. "At the end of the day, so very disappointing after winning the toss on a good pitch but then finding yourself in such a weak position at the end of day one, it's been a bad day for England."
While India has done extremely well to win the ongoing series, when asked about their chances in the upcoming T20 World Cup, Swann picked them as one of the strong favourites. "Look, India is always going to have a massive chance at the T20 World Cup, you know the IPL is the home of T20 cricket basically and you have got some incredible players, it's about time someone knocked Australia off the world champion perch as well. "If it's not England I hope it's India," Swann said.
(With PTI Inputs)
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