Graeme Swann speaks to Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton on the revamped Sky Sports Cricket podcast and offers his advice to the England squad ahead of their upcoming series in India.
Thursday 11 January 2024 14:25, UK
In 2012, England ended a 28-year long wait to win a Test match in India under the captaincy of Alastair Cook as spin twins Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar starred in the momentous 2-1 series triumph.
It has been 12 years since then and England remain hungry for glory in the sub-continent, but this time the eyes will be on uncapped Somerset off-spinner Shoaib Bashir and fellow debutant Tom Hartley.
During that Test, Swann took 20 wickets at 24.75 while Panesar grabbed 17 at 26.82 and did the bulk of the damage with Ravichandran Ashwin by way of contrast, limited to only 14 wickets at 52.64.
"The secret to Test cricket is to treat it as if you are the best player in the world and everyone else has to dance to your tune," said Swann on the Sky Sports Cricket podcast.
"I look back on that Test and I bowled fairly well but I didn't feel like I was doing anything special. I was just supporting Monty on the other end because he was bowling 65mph, pitching middle and leg, fizzing past the outside edge and he was incredible in that game.
"I always liked playing with Monty, he had this childlike innocence about him and his love for cricket which was just amazing.
"I would always say to him I wish I could bowl like you, look at the shape you get on the ball, look at how consistent you are and he would just grin like a kid at Christmas.
"That is the best he bowled for England by miles. He didn’t play in the first Test and he got 17 wickets, he was brilliant in that series.”
Leading 2-1 going into the final Test, England made the bold decision of bringing in a fresh-faced Joe Root for his Test debut in place of Samit Patel.
Root struck 73 to joint top-score with Kevin Pietersen as England posted 330 batting first while England's captain Cook topped the scoring charts for the series with 562 runs.
James Anderson, who was named Player of the Match for his 4-81, reduced India to 71-4 in reply and England seemed to be cruising to a series victory.
However, Virat Kohli (103) crashed the tourists' party alongside teammate MS Dhoni (99) as the pair combined for 198 runs to blunt England's attack and help the hosts draw to within just four runs of their first innings total.
"We had been told beforehand to not say anything to this bloke [Virat Kohli] because he absolutely revels in a battle in the field and he loves chasing down totals. We knew what he could do in the white ball format but back then he hadn't really done anything in Test cricket," Swann remembered.
"Steven Finn got driven for a couple of incredible fours and he lost the plot and had a got at him and realised his mistake straight away. Virat roared up like a tiger and Finn just doubled down and got smashed everywhere."
Kohli, who back then was at the start of his Test career, was dismissed four times by spin and twice by pace during the four-match Test series.
"I got him out in the first Test but often you had to bowl the perfect ball to dismiss him. The one batter I didn't like bowling to was [Cheteshwar] Pujara because was very nimble on his feet," added Swann.
"It's strange when I look back at the team they had VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli and the one that I didn't like bowling to was Pujara.
During the third innings, England hardly showed any nerves as Jonathan Trott racked up a sublime 143 and Ian Bell made a spectacular 116 not out. The visitors batted out 154 overs to earn a hard-fought draw and a stunning series victory.
"The best advice I got was from Shane Warne. He said to me in the first innings, spin the ball as hard as you can because the pitch will do nothing and try to pick up the odd wickets," Swann said.
"In the second innings think the pitch is doing everything for you and land the ball where you can so you take the pressure off yourself.
"It was the best advice I had. Warne created such amazing drama and pantomime with his body language and chirping."
Swann added: "Everyone should look as confident as Warne did in the second innings of any game because if you can bluff the batter into thinking you're in control then you can get wickets."
