India vs England 2016: 5 reasons why England struggle to bowl and play spin

England cricket is in a spin, once again and that too quite literally. After having dominated at home the team struggled against an inspired Bangladesh team on slow turning tracks. They somehow manage to escape defeat in the first Test match, largely due to the heroics of Ben Stokes, they were brought back down to reality in Dhaka.

While there is no shame in losing to Bangladesh in home conditions, the fact that the English team surrendered in such abject manner has a sense of deja vu attached to it. For long, spin has been an Achilles heel for England and even this new crop of players seem to find themselves in a real soup when confronted with the spinning ball.

The alarm bells are ringing and they are quite loud as their next assignment is against India, the number 1 ranked team, a team which has decimated oppositions at home.

Here in this list, we take a look at 5 things England players need to do to overcome their spin woes, both with the bat and with the ball.

#1 Judging the lengths of the ball

The inability to judge the length cost England dearly in Bangladesh

One of the most important criteria to play spin is the ability to judge the length and then accordingly react with the footwork. This is where the English batsmen have failed miserably. Very often, the batsmen have been stuck in the crease and have been neither forward nor backwards, mainly because they could not gauge the length of the ball. This has resulted in the bowlers pinning them down and then eventually nailing them right in front of the stumps, or by getting through their defence.

Indian spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja believe in hitting the lengths and being patient. They vary their lengths in a very subtle manner and if the England batters do not improve their ability to read the length quickly this tour can become a big nightmare for them.