NEW DELHI: The notion that England is easily outplayed on turning tracks is no longer a "foregone conclusion," according to pace bowler
Mark Wood
. The surprising defeat in the first Test has prompted India to contemplate various aspects before the second game.
England secured a remarkable 28-run victory in Hyderabad on Sunday, thanks to vice-captain
Ollie Pope
's impressive 196 and debutant left-arm spinner
Tom Hartley
's seven-wicket haul in the fourth innings.
"I don't know what (pitch) they will produce (for the second Test). India have got the potential to produce any wicket here. I've played in World Cup games and IPL games where it's seamed, flat pitches, spinning wickets. They have the potential to do any wicket they want.
"But now, we've given them something to think about. It's not a foregone conclusion that we are going to turn up here and they're going to spin us out," Wood was quoted as saying by 'ESPNCricinfo'.
Pope showcased dominance over the formidable Indian spin trio of
Ravichandran Ashwin
,
Ravindra Jadeja
and Axar Patel during England's second innings.
"Ollie Pope has played a fantastic knock, they're now going to have to go analyse, like we would do if things didn't go well, and analyse how they are going to try and combat that," Wood said.
"We've won one game, it's a hell of an achievement, but I don't think we need to get too far ahead of ourselves.
"Don't build this up now and say, 'ah we're going to win'. It's the same again. Go into the next game with the same belief, same process and hopefully get the same result," Wood added.
The 34-year-old found himself as the solitary pacer in England's playing eleven and he expressed a sense of oddity when skipper Ben Stokes informed him about bowling micro-spells.
"When we were at the ground, he (Stokes) said probably one or two. I mean, I thought I may not even open the bowling in second innings. But it was like 'one over; that's it'.
"So that was a bit weird. Especially when the captain says you're going to bowl one over with the new ball and it was a bit like, right, I'll practice one over with the new ball," he said.
"Very rarely would you think you'd bowl one over and then be off. But weirdly I trust what he says. One over? Right, okay, I'll give it everything for this over. And then he said 'rest' and I'm not annoyed. Like, I get it, we're going to spin now. So it's just a bit different."
Wood ultimately bowled 25 overs while remaining wicketless. In contrast, his Indian counterpart Jasprit Bumrah took six wickets, including 4 for 41 in the second innings.
"Bumrah didn't do me any favours by bowling like a genius," Wood said.
"That was tough! It was a bit odd, a bit weird at times. Usually at points during the game I'd think 'I might bowl here' but the spin is doing the damage.
"I said to Jimmy (Anderson) that I found it more bizarre that I didn't have anyone to talk to. I was sort of working it out as I went along. Usually if Jimmy is bowling a spell he can say to me 'this worked well', or 'what about this?' You are talking to the captain and not really knowing how it's going to go," he added.
(With inputs from PTI)
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