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

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 teams verbal exchange with star India batter Virat Kohli who was finding his feet in long format back thenThe 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 podcastBack 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 CookAlso Read IND vs AFG 1st T20I Cleanhitting Shivam Dube revels in accoladesI 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 SwannIn that series which England won by 21 Swann took 20 wickets while Monty took 17 Indias 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 HartleyI always liked playing with Monty he had this childlike innocence about him and his love for cricket which was just amazingI 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 addedLeading by 21 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 runsIn the final Test James Anderson took 481 and reduced India to 714 but Virat 103 and MS Dhoni 99 resisted the English attack well to take them to 32610 in reply to Englands first innings total of 330We 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 rememberedSteven 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 addedDuring 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 withI 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 SwannIt 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 addedDuring 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 seriesSwann 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 helpThe 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 saidIn 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 chirpingEveryone 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 concludedEngland 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 WoodThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever