Panesar reveals how to tackle Indian spinner during Test series

|| India Correspondent ||

Former England spinner Monty Panesar has revealed that the winner of upcoming India vs England Test series will be decided how the England players tackle Indian senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. The veteran campaigner has been in a prolific form and helped India win in the recently-concluded series against Australia as well and he is likely to continue his momentum in the four-match Test series which is slated to begin from February 5 in Chennai.

While speaking to the Times of India, Panesar said that Ashwin will be high on confidence after a stunning show on the Australian soil recently.

"Ashwin had a great tour of Australia and will come into the series with tons of confidence. How England play Ashwin will decide the outcome of the series. Ashwin has become smarter with the way he has bowled in recent times and is in prime form," Panesar said to TOI.

However, he also expressed that the absence of India's key all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will be a big setback for them as Ashwin will miss his support from the other end. Notably, Jadeja had sustained a thumb injury during the third Test against Australia and wouldn't be featured for the first two Tests against England as well.

"Jadeja will be missed. The second spinner will be crucial for India as Ashwin will need support from the other end to put England under pressure. They have named Axar Patel in the squad but I do believe that Jadeja adds a different dimension to the Indian team," further added Panesar.

Meanwhile, the former spinner also shared that England captain Joe Root, who has been in a swashbuckling form, will have to lead from the front with the bat again to win a series in India.

"If England are to have a chance of winning the series, Root will have to bat well. He needs to bat for long periods of time just like Alastair Cook did during the 2012-13 series. He has been brilliant in Sri Lanka and I do hope Root continues batting in the same way against India," he concluded.