England captain Alastair Cook wary of Ashwin's form

India's ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin during a practice session at the Saurashtra CA Stadium in Rajkot yesterday. Pic/PTI

India's ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin during a practice session at the Saurashtra CA Stadium in Rajkot yesterday. Pic/PTI

Any team landing in India comes with this notion that they are going to see a lot of spin in the series. They come prepared. As England take on India in the first Test starting in Rajkot today, it is not only about how much spin they will play but how many wickets their spinners can take, and how soon. Either way, they look fragile in terms of experience and exposure.

So, can they be called underdogs? Not really, because they looked the same when they toured India last time around too although there was a little more depth in their batting with the likes of Kevn Pietersen, Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott in the middle. England still have skipper Alastair Cook and Joe Root from that series but it will be a big challenge for the newcomers in the team.

In 2012-13, spinners Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar did what was expected of R Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha and Ravindra Jadeja combined. But four years is a long time. Ashwin is not the same bowler anymore, India is a much-changed outfit under Virat Kohli and Moeen Ali has only Adil Rashid (5 Tests) and Zafar Ansari (1 Test) for company.

England skipper Alastair Cook has tried to hide his true feelings when their recent experience in Bangladesh has been questioned. Losing 10 wickets in a session against Bangladesh in the second Test in Dhaka still rankles.

Cook can't deny that it has given India an opportunity to sneak-peak into one of their weakest points. "Losing 10 wickets in a session was an eye-opener. A lot of people have not played in such conditions. Things can change very quickly here," said Cook.

Spinning fields
"Dealing with pressure with men around the bat when you first go in, is tough. We are used to having three slips, two gullies, a short leg, and the guy bowling a lot seamers at us. And here, you have a guy bowling a lot of spin. That's the challenge we had in Bangladesh and we (now) have here."

Tackling R Ashwin, whose confidence is sky high now after his recent exploits in the series against New Zealand in which he picked up 27 wickets in three Tests, is one of the toughest challenges that England will face and Cook rightly pointed that out when he said, "The number of wickets Ashwin has taken in the last one year in Indian conditions has given him a lot of confidence. Cricket is a funny game. A lot of it is played in the mind and Ashwin will be trying to the do the same (play the mental game) with us here too. He also knows his game better than he did three years ago. You don't become a world-class spinner overnight; it takes a lot of time. Swann is probably the best example. He made his debut early after eight to nine years in wilderness. He said it helped him develop his spin bowling. Probably, Ashwin has done that."

It is highly unlikely that India won't cash in on Ashwin's form. Though skipper Kohli refused to term this as a revenge series, the hosts would definitely like to turn the tide having lost the last three series against England since 2011. India lost the four-match series 4-0 in England in 2011, then the four-match home series 1-2, after winning the first Test, in 2012-13 before losing 1-3 in English summer of 2014. The only consolation during the last series was India's win in the second Test at Lord's before losing three Tests in succession to surrender the Pataudi Trophy.

"We don't like to think about things in the past which we can't go back and change. We can only look forward to what we can do in the future and that is to play good cricket, express our skills to the best of our potential and play as a team," said Kohli.

'No revenge, please'
He stressed that tags like "revenge series" are created by people, their perceptions and their own thoughts. "As a team, we treat every day as a new day; we treat every opposition the same; we treat every session on the field as an opportunity for us to perform as a team. That is something we can do and not focus too much on whom we are playing. But at the same time, we don't show any disrespect to the opposition."

Kohli's Indians will look forward to a fruitful series after beating New Zealand 3-0. He said: "I think this team has done really well so far and it is something we will keep looking to do in the future too." India have not lost a Test under Kohli's captaincy at home since he took over in December 2014. In fact, under Kohli's captaincy, India have lost just one Test (against Sri Lanka), and have won nine and drawn seven in 17 matches. Over to the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium.