"The professor of spin" - Graeme Swann backs Ravichandran Ashwin to do well against England at Edgbaston

Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann has effusively praised Ravichandran Ashwin ahead of the one-off Test between India and England. Swann thinks that the veteran Indian off-spinner must be a part of the playing XI for the crucial match against England.

While in conversation with the Times of India (TOI), he mentioned that Ashwin might play a major role at Edgebaston. Swann thinks that Ashwin does experiment a lot with his bowling but always has a clear plan of his final objectives.

"What a bowler he (Ravichandran Ashwin) is. The professor of spin. He sometimes over-thinks it but he knows what he is doing and he knows exactly what he is going to do at Edgbaston. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a long bowl in the second innings. It has been a hot, dry and dusty summer."

Ravichandran Ashwin did not play a single game last year when India played four Tests in England. However, Swann still thinks that Edgebaston's wicket might convince India to give the spinner game time in this crucial match.

He added:

"One thing that foreign teams sometimes do in England is overload their team with seam bowlers. It may swing, but I’m not expecting too much seam. The wicket will be geared towards the powerhouse English middle-order batting. If Jack Leach can get 10 at Headingley, India’s spinners will enjoy Edgbaston. India will be crazy not to play Ashwin."

The fifth match of the series will be played from July 1 at Edgebaston in Birmingham. India lead the series 2-1.

England are a revamped Test team having recently beaten New Zealand 3-0 in the three-match red-ball series.

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India vs England 2022 squads

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Srikar Bharat (wk) and Mayank Agarwal.

England: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Sam Billings (wk), Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes (wk), Jack Leach, Alex Lees, Craig Overton, Jamie Overton, Matthew Potts, Ollie Pope and Joe Root.