"Secret to Test cricket is....": Graeme Swann's advice to England ahead of India tour

Graeme Swann. File pic

Former England spinner Graeme Swann had some words of advice for the English team, which will start its tour of India consisting of five Tests from January 25 onwards, recalling the team's verbal exchange with star India batter Virat Kohli, who was finding his feet in long format back then.

"The secret to Test cricket is to treat it as if you are the best player in the world and everyone else has to dance to your tune," said Swann on the Sky Sports Cricket podcast.

Back in 2012, England had spin twins Swann and Monty Panesar making Indian batters dance to their tunes as they secured their first series win in India after 28 years under the leadership of Alastair Cook.

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"I look back on that Test series and I bowled fairly well but I did not feel like I was doing anything special. I was just supporting Monty on the other end because he was bowling 65mph, pitching middle and leg, fizzing past the outside edge and he was incredible in that game," said Swann.

In that series, which England won by 2-1, Swann took 20 wickets while Monty took 17. India's star spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin, could just take 14 wickets. This time around, the eyes of all English fans will be on uncapped spinner Shoaib Bashir and fellow Test debutant Tom Hartley.

"I always liked playing with Monty, he had this childlike innocence about him and his love for cricket, which was just amazing."

"I would always say to him, I wish I could bowl like you; look at the shape you get on the ball; look at how consistent you are and he would just grin like a kid at Christmas. That is the best he bowled for England by miles. He did not play in the first Test and he got 17 wickets, he was brilliant in that series," he added.

Leading by 2-1 ahead of the fourth and final Test, England brought Joe Root for his debut Test in place of Samit Patel. Root scored 73 runs in his debut Test, while Cook topped the scoring charts with 562 runs.

In the final Test, James Anderson took 4/81 and reduced India to 71/4, but Virat (103) and MS Dhoni (99) resisted the English attack well to take them to 326/10 in reply to England's first innings total of 330.

"We had been told beforehand not to say anything to this bloke [Virat Kohli] because he revels in a battle in the field and he loves chasing down totals. We knew what he could do in the white ball format but back then he had not done anything in Test cricket," Swann remembered.

"Steven Finn got driven for a couple of incredible fours and he lost the plot, had a go at him and realised his mistake straight away. Virat roared up like a tiger and Finn just doubled down and got smashed everywhere," he added.

During that series, Virat was dismissed four times by spinners and twice by spinners. Swann recalled dismissing him in the first Test and how one has to bowl a "perfect delivery" to dismiss him. He also revealed the batter he did not like to face off with.

"I got him out in the first Test, but often you had to bowl the perfect ball to dismiss him. The one batter I did not like bowling to was [Cheteshwar] Pujara because he was very nimble on his feet," said Swann.

"It is strange when I look back at the team; they had VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, and the one that I did not like bowling to was Pujara," he added.

During the third innings of the final Test, England did not show any nerves as Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell notched quality centuries, batting out 154 overs to earn a draw and secure the series.

Swann revealed that he was advised by late Aussie spin great Shane Warne to spin the ball as hard as possible in the first inning, as the pitch would not offer him much help.

"The best advice I got was from Shane Warne. He said to me in the first inning, spin the ball as hard as you can because the pitch will do nothing and try to pick up the odd wickets," Swann said.

"In the second inning, think the pitch is doing everything for you and land the ball where you can so you can take the pressure off yourself. It was the best advice I had. Warne created such amazing drama and pantomime with his body language and chirping."

"Everyone should look as confident as Warne did in the second inning of any game because if you can bluff the batter into thinking you are in control, then you can get wickets," he concluded.

England Test squad: Ben Stokes (c), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root and Mark Wood.

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