“I’d sit down with Yuzi and I’d say, ‘What is it? Do you want to play red-ball cricket for India?’ If he does, I’d have I’d have him in the squad straight away. I think he is world class, he’s the best spinner in the world in my opinion. His control, bowling leg-spin in very tricky conditions, especially when that ball gets dew on it and gets wet, is incredible. There isn’t a more difficult place to bowl in the evening than in India.” These were the words of one of the top spinners over the last 25 years, Graeme Swann. Coming from someone of his calibre, it surely merits attention. Swann wants Chahal in Tests.
Why wasn’t Chahal even considered?
For some reason, the Indian selectors never thought it fit to include Chahal in the Test squad. His fellow wrist spinner, Kuldeep Yadav earned a call-up to the squad and has played in a few tests but Chahal is not even considered. This is despite the fact that most of the batsmen around the world struggle against quality leg-spinners. Even during the last series against England in India, when three spinners were required, it was Axar Patel who was chosen in the squad notwithstanding that Jadeja did not play in the entire series because of injury. Sundar who is more of a batsman than a bowler, played ahead of Chahal. It meant that the selectors do not think of Chahal as among the top 3 spinners in the land but you have someone like Swann who wants him in the test squad.
He also says that Chahal is the best in the world at the moment. I will differ on that statement. There are quite a few spinners who are better. Nathan Lyon with 400+ wickets will surely have something to say about it. Keshav Maharaj who is striking at more than 4 wickets per test will have something to say about it. He bowls mostly on the unforgiving terrain of the South African wickets which have usually helped the fast bowlers.
As Swann says, perhaps, Chahal himself does not want to play the red-ball game. Maybe he has informed the selectors not to consider him for Tests. Otherwise, there is no other logical explanation to his omission.
Eoin Morgan retired
It will not be an understatement to state that the current England approach to batting in Test cricket is inspired by Eoin Morgan. It was he who introduced this concept of all-out attack against the bowlers. The conditions, the pitch and the bowlers did not matter at all. All that mattered to him was a relentless assault on the bowlers thereby demoralising and deflating the entire opposition. Morgan did not inspire much confidence at the Test level but he underwent and took English cricket alongwith him through a drastic and immediate change that had repercussions throughout the cricketing world. Under him, the English team metamorphed into a colossus unit. It is another matter that he had the personnel to carry out his plan but credit must be given to him for giving the players the confidence to go out on the field and express themselves.
The nudge that England needed
Up until the 2015 ODI World Cup, England was playing a brand of cricket that had passed its sell-by-date. More or less like the India of now. They didn’t seem to realise that the fielding restrictions were more for the batsmen to score quickly. Instead, they prodded along. It took a knock-out blow from Bangladesh from the 2015 World Cup for England to question their approach to the white ball game. Until that point, England never gave that much importance to white ball but after that, they started to define how white ball cricket must be played. Morgan was at the forefront of this revolution. During one of the ODI against New Zealand, England was bowled out for 302 in 45 overs and thereby missed out on the last 5 overs but Morgan did not bother.
“It doesn’t disappoint me,” he said. “I want the guys to continue with that [attacking] mindset and not worry about batting 50 overs: I think that makes guys hesitate and question their natural way of playing and I don’t want that to happen.”
This simple episode goes onto show how Morgan changed the mindset of English cricket towards white ball cricket in general and batting in particular.
Morgan was instrumental in making the England players play in franchise cricket around the world. He reckoned that T20 cricket will help in his aggressive approach and as a result of that, every player who had participated in the IPL has gone on record that it helped them in their careers.
Morgan created great depth
Morgan was instrumental in changing the approach of the counties that provided the England team with great depth. Scoring rates increased to close to 6 from around 5.25. Last year, most of the first choice England players were sidelined because of Covid. Yet, a second string England team blanked a full-strength Pakistan 3-0. The depth has increased so much that Morgan himself became surplus to requirement. He sort of became a pariah because runs were hard to come by. He wasn’t able to command a spot in the team based on his batting alone. It left him quite vulnerable. There were murmurs about his position but he has chosen the correct time to end his career.
Morgan’s greatest moment
Undoubtedly, it was the 2019 World Cup. It was England’s first World Cup and Morgan was at the helm. It could not have been better scripted for Morgan to be the first world cup winning England captain, a man who changed the face of the game. Just because it was a World Cup, neither Morgan nor England changed their approach. They continued with the same aggressive batting right through the tournament. Only the medium pace of Grandhomme in the finals, slowed them down.
Conclusion to Swann wants Chahal in Tests and Morgan retires
I am afraid for Chahal, he has past his time. He is in his early 30s and with Axar Patel and Kuldeep ahead of the pecking order, his time at the highest level may never come.
As for Morgan, thanks mate for transforming the white ball game.