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Ahead of the second T20I against India, England batter and vice-captain Harry Brook placed blame on smog for his team's struggles against spin bowling, particularly Varun Chakravarthy during their loss in the first T20I at Eden Gardens on Wednesday.
After struggling against spin at Kolkata, England could be up for a bigger challenge against the spin bowling trio of Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi at spin-friendly Chepauk Stadium in Chennai during the second T20I against England. Under their new head coach Brendon McCullum, the Three Lions would be desperate to replicate the attacking and positive 'Bazball' approach to cricket which gave team success in Tests under the captaincy of Ben Stokes. Speaking during the press conference ahead of the match, Brook, who was dismissed by Varun for 14-ball 17, praised the Indian and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) mystery spinner and said that his bowling was hard to pick up due to smog at Kolkata. "Chakravarthy is an exceptionally good bowler," said the England vice-captain. "He is tough to pick, and actually with the smog the other night, it was a lot harder to pick as well. Hopefully, the air is a bit clearer here and we can see the ball a bit easier," said Brook as quoted by Wisden. Brook was not the only player struggling against spin as Liam Livingstone fell for a duck to Varun and young left-hander Jacob Bethell also looked poor against spin bowling before his dismissal to pacer Hardik Pandya for 14-ball seven. Brook said that facing spin in T20 cricket is the "hardest thing in the game". "Maybe I have got to rein in a little bit but we will see. I do have a method against it. It is just trying to do it consistently and a little more often. I come in in the middle order, so the first few balls I face are usually off-spin. So if I get out early, it is usually against a spinner, so maybe my stats are not as good against spin, and there is always going to be criticism in some parts," he concluded. Squads: India Squad: Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Mohammed Shami, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana England Squad: Ben Duckett, Philip Salt(w), Jos Buttler(c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Smith, Rehan Ahmed. (ANI)
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