England Hint At All-Spin Attack As Depleted India Look To Level Series

India vs England Second Test Preview: Ben Stokes' England side could go with an all-spin bowling attack against an inexperienced India batting line-up when the second Test begins in Visakhapatnam

India vs England Second Test Preview (Image Source: Google)

'Line-up looks weak' -

"Baz" McCullum and skipper Stokes have led a huge turnaround for England's fortunes with 14 wins in 19 Tests on the back of a swashbuckling style of play dubbed "Bazball".

Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh warned that India's lack of Test batting experience was a worry.

"Yes, there is Rohit Sharma, but the next best run-scorer is (Ravichandran) Ashwin," he said on his YouTube commentary channel.

"In terms of batting, the line-up looks weak," he added, saying that a tricky spinning pitch could work against the hosts.

"This batting unit is young, they need time, and if they get a good track, they might even perform well," he said.

England's Ollie Pope demonstrated how to handle conditions in the second innings in Hyderabad with an outstanding 196 to turn the game on its head.

Pope's 112-run sixth-wicket stand with wicketkeeper-batsman Ben Foakes, who made 34, was peppered with sweep shots both sides of the wicket that blunted the Indian spin attack.

"Quite a few of the lads have a game plan that will do well on those pitches," said Foakes.

"It's more of a mindset shift of how to go about it, because in those conditions the bowler is a massive favourite to win the contest.

"Before there was a fear of getting out and that put us in our shells.

"Accepting that you probably are (going to get out) on those sorts of surfaces, you can actually go and dominate at times as well."

India have been unbeaten in a home Test series since England, under Alastair Cook, won in 2012.

On England's last tour three years ago, India recovered from losing the first Test to take the four-match series 3-1.