Jofra Archer: India won’t out-spin us

Jofra Archer

Right-arm fast bowler Jofra Archer believes England have enough options in the spin department and therefore India won't be able to "out-spin" his side when the two teams face each other in the upcoming four-match series. "I have played a lot of the Indian Premier League here but nothing in terms of first-class cricket, so the challenges of bowling with a red ball will become clearer," Archer wrote in his column for The Daily Mail.

"In the IPL, the batters have to come at you, whereas in Test cricket they can sit on you for a full session if they want and if the pitch is dead there is nothing you can do about it," he added. Archer plays for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. He has so far played 35 matches in which he has scalped 46 wickets. "So let's hope we get some good wickets with a little bit of pace for the bowlers. Or even some turn, because if they spin, the matches will not be one-sided. We have good spinners in our squad and India won't out-spin us," said Archer who has picked 38 wickets in 11 Tests.

Both teams would be brimming with confidence. While England registered a commanding 2-0 Test series win in Sri Lanka, India secured a memorable 2-1 Border-Gavaskar series win in Australia.

Impressed with India
Archer was keeping an eye on the recently-concluded India v Australia Test series. "Over in the Caribbean we got India's series in Australia on cable TV, so I kept an eye on them. Their 2-1 win showed that you cannot underestimate any of the leading teams in Test cricket, even when some of their best players are missing," he wrote. "In fact, the one thing that impressed me most about India was that everyone in their team chipped in. If it wasn't the guy who performed well in the previous innings, it was someone else."

100th Test for Root
Meanwhile, Archer is in awe of his skipper Joe Root, who will play his 100th Test in Chennai. "Our skipper is a great person and that's what I believe makes him a good captain. He's a really good man-manager. To play 100 Tests is a lot of miles in the legs and just thinking about that many as a fast bowler hurts my back!" he wrote.