India vs England 2016: 5 causes of concern for Team India after the first test

#2 Indian spinners outdone by their English counterparts

Adil Rashid looked threatening with the ball at Rajkot (Courtesy: Bcci.tv)

Before the series, the talk was all about how the Indian spinners were going to tear this English batting line-up apart, how the likes of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were going to walk all over the English batsmen.

But come the end of the first test match, the English spinners that are the talk of the town, as the trio of Moeen Ali, Zafar Ansari and Adil Rashid were very good on a good pitch at Rajkot. The English spinners accounted for 13 dismissals among them in the match, whereas the Indian spin attack of Ashwin, Jadeja and Mishra managed to pick up 9 wickets between them.

Adil Rashid was the stand-out performer as he managed to trouble the Indian batters with his turn and bounce. His variations were also hard to read for the home team as he finished the match with 7 wickets, his best performance for the Three Lions till date.

On the other hand, the English batsmen looked hardly troubled by the Indian spinners. There were occasions on which they looked uncomfortable, but those moments were not as frequent as one would have expected coming into this match. They looked to attack the Indian trio from the outset and were largely successful in their endeavours.

The track at Vizag, the venue for the second test, is expected to be much more spin-friendly than at Rajkot, and it will be interesting how the English batsmen will counter the Indian spin threat over there. But based on this show, the English spinners will pose a serious challenge to the Indians as well.

As for now, it is English spinners 1, Indian spinners 0.