Reaping the rewards of swing

The Hindu's S Ram Mahesh applauds the manner in which every one of England’s top seven batsmen has been scouted, softened, probed, and picked up by two Indian left-arm fast bowlers. Zaheer Khan and RP Singh, with their ability to swing the ball both ways, have picked up 25 wickets between them in the two Tests, but the hard work behind swinging it has largely gone unnoticed, the writer feels.

Disguise is everything. Neither changes his action or slants his wrist noticeably: for the batsmen looking for cues, few, if any, appear. Zaheer, at times, drags his fingers down the inside of the ball for the outswinger to the right-hander, but it’s done so fast, it’s barely detectable.