5 English batsmen who can deal with Pakistan's spin threat

5 English batsmen who can deal with Pakistan’s spin threat: On 13th October, Pakistan will host England at Abu Dhabi to play the first Test. Both the teams have won their last series and are high on confidence. England cornered Australia in the Ashes series while Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka on their home soil. The morale would be definitely high for both sides.

However, Pakistan has an advantage over England mainly because of the pitch, the conditions and their spinners. In the year 2012, Pakistan defeated England comprehensively at UAE. They were embarrassingly white washed 2-0. The spinning duo of Saeed Ajmal (24 wickets) and Abdur Rehman (19 wickets) were the chief tormentor for English batsmen who looked puzzled throughout the series.

Ajmal and Rehman might not be featuring in the Pakistan squad this time. But the spin threat still looms large over the English batsmen. Pakistan’s newest bowling sensation, leggie Yasir Shah and his compatriot, left-arm orthodox, Zulfiqar Babar will be difficult to handle for England and cannot be overlooked.

England captain Alastair Cook admitted that it would be a daunting task to overcome the Pakistani spinners.

Batting will play the most crucial part for England if they aim to spring a surprise and beat Pakistan. England has a well-balanced and experienced batting line up. The likes of Alistair Cook and Ian Bell, along with the special talent of Joe Root will prove to be England’s best bet to counter the spin threat. All three have an outstanding reputation of playing spin bowling really well. Apart from them, Moeen Ali and Alex Hales will play key roles.

Here are the 5 English batsmen who can deal with Pakistan’s spin threat:

1. Alastair Cook:

Alastair Cook is the best player of spin bowling in the current England team. Cook has emerged successful against high-quality spinners on turning wickets. Overall, in the last 10 innings he has scored 6 half centuries and 2 centuries. As far as the 2012 series is concerned, he was ordinary but did well as compared to the other batsmen. He cannot be written off at any cost as he has been fairly successful against India and Sri Lanka, averaging close to 45 runs.