India vs England 2021: Monty Panesar chooses Moeen Ali over Dom Bess, feels the former has more experience

India vs England 2021: Monty Panesar chooses Moeen Ali over Dom Bess, feels the former has more experience
Monty Panesar

Former English International Cricketer Monty Panesar feels Moeen Ali has the edge over Dom Bess as Moeen has a better experience when it comes to facing the Indian side.

The spin duo Jack Leach and Dom Bess have played 12 Tests each but none in India. Both of them played against Sri Lanka while Moeen Ali didn’t feature for the England side as he was infected with COVID-19 ahead of the Sri Lanka series.

“Jack Leach is likely to play since India have a lot of right-handers and I will pick Moeen Ali over Dom Bess as the off-spinner in the eleven as he has done well in India and has the required experience. He can also bat,” Panesar told PTI from the UK.

“Having not played in Sri Lanka, Ali is fresh and hungry. India would not like facing Ali, they would be happy facing Leach and Bess.”

Analysing the Indian pitches, Panesar feels that England spinners would consistently need to flight the ball and avoid bowling flatter lines.

“They should be aiming to bowl good length but how it is getting there also matters. Bowling too flat will make things easy for the batter, so I would flight the ball. The margin of error also increases if you flight the ball on a good length,” said Panesar.

“Give the ball some air and bring the batsman forward. You can bowl arm balls and cross seamers to mix things up but not too frequently especially when the ball is soft,” added the left-arm spinner.

Panesar highlighted the importance fielding setup

England Team celebrating

The 38-year-old also emphasized the fielding setup, which was key to England’s victory back then in 2012.

“Joe Root should tempt the Indian batsmen to step out and go for big hits. You have men in the deep and have close in fielders at the same time. Have long on, man on the drive, have your close in fielders.”

“The more the Indian batters try to accelerate, the bat acceleration will increase and probability of getting the edge increases. I would also want to ensure the Indians defend with hard hands. That will happen when you will encourage them to go aerial.

“Our spinners are used to bowing with the much harder dukes balls so lets see how they fare with the SG Test,” added Panesar.

Also read: India vs England 2021: English spinner Jack Leach believes he has more to offer with the ball