"Opposition batsmen need to go after Ashwin and Jadeja" Monty Panesar on how to win a test series in India | Exclusive

Monty Panesar recently represented Toyam Hyderabad in the Legends League Cricket 2024.

Left-arm spinner Monty Panesar made a name for himself as one of England’s most successful British-Asian cricketers. Known for his accurate spin bowling through which he troubled some of the top-class batsmen he encountered, Panesar was born to Indian parents in Luton, a few miles north of the capital city of London. 

Monty Panesar became an icon in English cricket, especially through his performances in test matches. He represented the Three Lions in 50 tests, in which he snapped 167 wickets.

Perhaps the most memorable victory of his career was on the India tour in 2012-2013, where Panesar delivered a stellar performance, taking 17 wickets across the series and helping England secure a historic test series victory. Monty combined with Graeme Swann to help England in their historic triumph.

It was such a rare feat for any visiting team that even a dozen years since then, no team has managed to win a test series in India.

Recently, Monty Panesar joined the exciting world of the Legends League Cricket and represented Toyam Hyderabad in the 2024 season. Khel Now caught up with the Englishman during the Surat leg of the tournament. He spoke about England’s Bazball test setup under Brendon McCullum, England’s 2012-13 tour of India and much more. 

Excerpts from Monty Panesar’s interview:

Q: We’ll start by talking about English cricket. Although the summer went well for the Three Lions, despite the “Bazball” narrative, England have not achieved anything substantial yet in terms of results ever since Brendon McCullum took over. Your thoughts?

A: Well this summer’s been very good. Yeah, I think they won (against) Sri Lanka, they won (against) West Indies, so I think it was only the last test match (that they lost). So it’s 5-1 in this summer’s test matches. So they’ve done very well, they’re doing good. 

They are experimenting a lot with selection, being brave, probably the only team that’s experimenting the most when it comes to team selection and everything. I think because England can play a very aggressive form of cricket, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the right way for other countries. I think it works in England.

Q: Your views on Brendon McCullum taking over the ODI setup as well from next year?

A: It’s going to be very positive. He’s going to play an aggressive form of cricket. He’s not scared or afraid of experimenting, bringing new players in, getting players to go out there and express themselves. 

It’s an entertaining form of cricket, right? I think if other countries follow England, then they may not be able to match the same style. England are doing their own thing.

Q: Let us roll back the year 2012- 2013, India had lost the test series against England on that tour and the chief architects of that victory from a bowling perspective were you and Graeme Swann. Tell us something about that tour.

A: Yeah it was good we worked hard. We knew that we have to be aggressive against the spinners. We had Alastair Cook in the batting lineup. He’s got a brilliant record, similar to Matthew Hayden.  

Jonathan Trott was a good batter; we got Bell, we got Kevin Petersen in that series. He scored quickly and that was a strong team that we had. But I think beating India in India is going to be a difficult task for any team now. India are a very strong team. So yes, it’s unbelievable the record that they have now.

Q:  Could you just tell us the back story, how all the preparation went before the Indian tour that time and what was it like?

A: I think Andy Flower is a very good – brilliant-  coach. He would put the pieces together. Very good strategist. So we had a strategy in place to go after the Indian spinners. That was our strategy. If we go after the Indian spinners then we may have a chance of winning the series. 

So that’s the strategy which when you look at other nations when they come in India, they don’t go after Ashwin or Jadeja, they don’t put them out of the attack, they get afraid of them and that’s why India keep on winning. Once you find an overseas batting team that can take on Jadeja, Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, take on the spinners – you know, bang bang, dominate them, then the opposite team will have a chance.

But if you look at the record, I think Ashwin’s taken more than 300 wickets since that tour in India alone. So no one’s able to take on Ashwin. And you’ve got to be brave. It’s like ‘Nah, come on, we’re going to take him on.’ But, no one does.

Q: In the recent past, England have struggled to find wicket-taking spinners. Currently, we see management putting their trust in young spinners like Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed. So as a former spinner, how do you look at the new generation of players?

A: I think what England are doing right now is picking players with potential. So you look at Rehan Ahmed, he bowls quick leg spin. He’s got great potential. The potential that the British-Asian cricketers are coming through the system is very exciting.  Now you know who Shoaib Bashir is, you know he bowls spin, and he’s tall. So in 12 months’ time when the pitches are bouncier in Australia, he will be very successful. 

Moeen Ali had a brilliant test record. He’s just retired; he’s a brilliant T20 cricketer. So when we look at the whole package is that since Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali have gone out there and expressed themselves it’s allowed more British Asian cricketers like Rehan Ahmed, and Shoaib Bashir; then, there’s another opening batsman for Nottinghamshire Haseeb Hameed. 

Rehan Ahmed’s younger brother (Farhan Ahmed) is 16 years old and made his debut this year. There’s another Sikh cricketer Amar Singh Virdi who is playing in the domestic circuit.

So what’s happening in England is we are seeing British Asian cricketers coming through the system and they are expressing their talent because of Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid.

Q: The Champions Trophy will take place next year in Pakistan and England did not have a good 2023 ICC ODI World Cup and 2024 ICC T20 World Cup. Your views from England’s perspective going into the Champions Trophy? 

A: The problem was that from 2015 to 2019, England won 70 percent of the ODIs that led to the World Cup victory (in 2019). Now, what’s happened is that India won I think over 70% of the ODI and T20 cricket. So what happened? They won the T20 World Cup (2024).

So I think India look like the strongest team now to win the Champions Trophy. Because history suggests teams that win 70% of the ODIs, they win the trophy because everyone knows their role now. What’s happened with England is they’re winning 50%. It’s 50-50 like how it used to be in the 2000s and 1990s. They’ve won the World Cup and it’s difficult to repeat it. Because you need a very good strategy.

At the moment the favourites are India and I think India will probably win the Champions Trophy again because they’re having the same run as England had between 2015 to 2019. Now India are having that four-year period, so this is the best time to win trophies.

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