Shoaib Akhtar says England must 'learn the art' of playing spin in the sub-continent

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has said that England would have got a reality check on how to play on Indian wickets after their dismal batting performance against India in the recently-concluded four-match Test series. 

Team India registered an emphatic win by an innings and 25 runs on Day 3 of the fourth and final Test match at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad to seal the series 3-1. As for the visitors, not only did they end up conceding the series despite winning the series opener, but were also knocked out from the ICC World Test Championship final contention after a humiliating 10-wicket loss in the third Test. 

'They have got a reality check in India': Shoaib Akhtar

“All in all, it was an embarrassing defeat for the England team, and they have got a reality check in India. But they need to now learn the art of playing spin in the sub-continent well. Not sure, how are they going to lift themselves up from this humiliating defeat and motivate themselves to play better,” said Akhtar while speaking on his official Youtube channel.

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Furthermore, the 'Rawalpindi Express' also added that while many might talk about the wickets in the recently-concluded series, he made it crystal clear that even India managed to score 365 by playing on the same wickets, where the visiting batsmen struggled. Giving the example of Team India's middle-order duo Rishabh Pant, and, Washington Sundar, the ex-tearaway fast bowler wondered why the English batsmen could not score runs when these two could.

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How England lost the plot despite drawing first blood?

The Joe Root-led side have got themselves to blame after they bottled it up despite being in a commanding position by taking an early lead in the four-match Test series. After their comprehensive 227-run win in the first Test at Chepauk last month, the visitors were exposed on the spinning wickets (especially rank-turners in the previous two Tests)as only a couple of batsmen including the likes of Test skipper Root and middle-order batsman Dan Lawrence managed to make an impact to a certain extent.

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