'I started bowling like Anil Kumble': Stuart Broad reveals how he was 'in the game' against India
England pacer Stuart Broad revealed he started to bowl like former India captain Anil Kumble in the second Test in India and only then he felt like he was in the game.
Veteran England fast bowler Stuart Broad feels the day-night pink-ball Test in Ahmedabad against India will have 'more for him to work with’ which will be a welcome change from the conditions in Chennai which had forced him to resort to bowling leg-cutters like former India captain and head coach Anil Kumble in the second Test.
Broad, who came into the England XI replacing James Anderson in the second Test, went wicketless in the match, which India won by a huge margin of 317 runs to draw level in the four-match series.
“Personally, there should be more for me to work with, if selected (In the pink ball Test). There was nothing in the Chennai pitch on that first day and it was only when I went Anil Kumble and started to get the leg-cutter really jagging off the surface that I felt in the game," Broad wrote in his column for Daily Mail.
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Kumble was a bit different from the traditional leg-spinners. He deceived the batsmen more with his pace and length than flight and turn, which is why it was perhaps easier for Broad to try and implement it despite being a seamer.
The Chennai pitch drew criticism particularly from the English media for assisting the spinners from Day 1. Broad, however, said there was no problem from the England camp.
"There is no criticism of the second Test pitch from our point of view. That’s exactly what home advantage is and you are well within your rights to utilise that. Why wouldn’t India play on pitches that turn square and upon which first innings runs are vital? They outplayed us on a pitch that they are very skilled on but one very alien to us,” he said.
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The right-arm seamer who has more than 500 Test scalps, said those who were not part of the England XI in Chennai, had already started their preparations for the third Test which will mark the first-ever day-night affair between the two sides.
“While we were playing in Chennai, those not picked were using the pink SG ball in the nets in readiness for the day-night third match in Ahmedabad and the reports are it swings and nips about, which is encouraging,” Broad wrote.
Broad added that the conditions for pink-ball Test in Ahmedabad are more likely to be in favour of England.
“I’ve held one and it’s harder than the red one but doesn’t look as though it will reverse as much as it has a lacquer rather than a leather that will peel away.
Conditions this week might be slightly more in our favour — if you are talking about England, Australia and South Africa playing here, you would probably choose a pink ball if you are looking at evening things up — but we must remember India possess some fine seam bowlers and are at home,” he added.
The third Test begins at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad on February 24.