Saqib Mahmood is probably the quickest of those still standing. But his top speed is probably around Wood's average. He's perhaps closer to Broad in terms of pace, which is not a bad thing. I'd like to see Mahmood and Overton in for Wood and Curran. Four right arm fast medium might be considered boring/samey but it's been successful for India. Sam Curran's dibbly-dobblers have yielded one wicket so far.
Leach is no longer in the squad. So England it'll be Moeen and some Root.
Brilliant!!!!!! India have better chances of winning this one now unless Moeen springs a surprise.
Spinners have taken 14 wickets at 48 in the last three tests. Of those matches we've had West Indies and England chased 300+ in the fourth innings to win. 3rd and 4th innings are like the 3rd innings we've seen in the first two tests.
Speaks that this is more of a batting friendly wicket. Because in those 3 matches we've had bowlers like Nathan Lyon, Roston Chase, Devendra Bishoo, Jack Leach and Shadab Khan. All of them are quality spinners. Also, Josh Hazelwood and Jofra Archer had taken 5-wicket hauls in the last match played over here which happened to be an Ashes Test. So, yes excluding Leach doesn't make much of a difference. But why should England rely on Root's bowling when they have a potentially world class spinner?
I don't think England would agree that Leach is potentially world class.
We could not make out unless he plays enough. He has done a great job to average 29-odd in FC playing in England.
He plays for Somerset who are notorious for the spin friendly pitches. If Ashwin played there he'd probably take 150 wickets a season.
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