English spinners are third-class citizen, no chance of beating India: Swann

Photo: AP

New Delhi: He was instrumental to help England defeat India, in India, after two decades but now he believes his countrymen have no chance to repeat what they did in 2012. Moreover, Graeme Swann, one of England’s most successful spinners states that spin bowlers are treated as third-class citizens in his country.  "Me and Monty were freaks of nature, we grew up in Northants where the pitches used to rag square, but I moved [to Nottinghamshire] because I wanted to become a better bowler on non-turning pitches," Swann said during the launch of BT Sport's cricket coverage. The duo of Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann tormented the Indian batsmen in their own backyard and scripted history for Alastair Cook’s side by claiming the series 2-1. "We don't take spin seriously in this country, and then bemoan the fact that we haven't got world-class spinners when we go to the subcontinent. "We've got a bloody good team with bloody good cricketers, but we will lose in India because of what has happened 20 years before. We are hamstrung by the fact that we treat spinners as third-class citizens." England will rely on the services of Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid to have any chance of toppling the No. 1 test side when the action begins in Rajkot from Novemeber 9. The off spinner, however, believes that the lack of proper system is the reason why England does not produce quality spinners regularly. "There is no sort of system in place to provide the backing that spinners need," he said. "From the day they arrive in county cricket to the day they play in Tests, it's not there. It is for batting, for bowlers, for fielding, for fitness, for nutrition … but not for spin bowling. And because of that, we are bad players of spin. It's a whole melting pot." Bangladesh defeated England by a massive 108 runs in the last test to level the series two match 1-1 and exposed their lack of ability to tackle spin bowling. "On paper, Bangladesh are one of the two worst Test teams in the world, but they saw England - a bastion of the game - coming out to play and knew exactly how to beat us, by having turning pitches, simple, and picking an 18-year-old to win it. England’s dismal show in the recent Bangladesh series has forced Swann to think that England will not even have the slimmest of chances to pose a threat to India, when they turn up against the likes of Ashwin Jadeja. "I don't think we've got a cat in hell's chance, seeing how [Ravi] Ashwin and [Ravi] Jadeja bowl," he said. "Jadeja doesn't spin the ball, he doesn't try to. He just bowls straight and lets Ashwin do the work. Ashwin isn't a massive turner of the ball, he rarely bowls his carrom ball, but he's very, very accurate. Every Test in India he goes into, he believes he's going to win it."