The 24-year-old left-arm spinner Tom Hartley is set to make his test debut during the Test series on England’s India tour.
Tom Hartley set to make Test debut
Tom Hartley will be part of the spin attack in the England squad which is set to face India at Hyderabad. Jack Leach will be leading the spin bowling unit in the squad.
Tom Hartley has 40 wickets from 20 FC matches with an average of 36.57. The left-arm spin has been a weakness for India in home tests which boasts the top order.
England Board also included Joe Root in the squad. Playing a three-spinner strategy proves there is no place for James Anderson in the playing 11. Australia has also tried this tactic as they played with Todd Murphy, Scott Kuhnemann, and Nathon Lyon.
England also played with three spinners on their last trip. But on both occasions, they had Cameron and Ben Stokes as a backup.
Shoaib Bashir is the other spinner in the squad. He has not started in India as had did not receive his visa yet. It is learned that he flew back to the UK from Abu Dhabi, where England’s squad had been training.
However, the England skipper has confirmed that Ben Foakes will be behind the wickets while Jonny Bairstow will play as a pure batter in no.5 in the batting line-up.
However, India has a major setback with Virat Kohli withdrawn from the first two tests due to personal reasons and Mohammad Shami is out of the squad due to the injury. BCCI has announced Rajat Patidar as the replacement for Kohli.
India and England will be playing their first Test match starting on January 25 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
