24 January 2024 , 15:15
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Tossed up, with a few more revs and a cunning dip, the ball brushed the pad before the Indian deity could smother the spin with his bat.
Umpire Aleem Dar upheld the LBW appeal, Sachin Tendulkar became Monty Panesar's first Test wicket and the England spinner's celebratory lap of Nagpur almost broke the mile record.
The night before his debut 18 years ago, Panesar had knocked on captain Freddie Flintoff's hotel room door and presented him with reams of suggested field placings for each Indian batsman. Now one of the most inexperienced spin attacks England have sent to the subcontinent will become skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum's Bazball's bodyguards.
Jack Leach, Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir went on tour with only 36 Test caps between them - Leach accounting for 35 of them - but Panesar is confident they will ultimately prosper on surfaces with more spin than a Downing Street briefing.
A Test series in India will be a baptism of fire for the Bazball Babes and Panesar, whose 50 Tests yielded 167 wickets, has some salient advice for England's young spinners.
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"If the pitches turn as much as everyone seems to expect, they won't need to go looking for 'magic' balls," he said. "At least 30 per cent of a spinner's deliveries should be looking to hit the stumps in those conditions. If your stock delivery keeps the batsman in his crease, it will test his technique, bring bat-pad and LBW into play, and create doubts in his mind about taking liberties.
"Even if you come under fire, and get hit down the ground for six, it is essential to keep the body language positive. If your stock ball is sound, the batter only has to make one mistake to give you a chance. If in any doubt, bowl with extra pace to establish a rhythm – and then, when you are settled, toss one up a bit higher and you'll find out if they want to take you on.
"On dry, spinning wickets the Indian batsmen are going to feel more comfortable than England – that's home advantage, but if the pitches turn and bring spin into play, that means our spinners will come to the party as well. A five-match series in India will be the biggest test of Bazball yet, but we have not picked four spinners out of a hat. These lads have been selected because they can bowl, and it's a great opportunity for them."
Freddie Flintoff gave Panesar the encouragement he needed to succeed (Getty Images)Do you think England will win their Test series in India? Let us know in the comments below!
Panesar, now 41, regards his first Test wicket as the high-water mark of his England career because Tendulkar would later present him with an autographed ball bearing the inscription 'Once in a blue moon, never again mate.' Bad luck, Sachin. There would be another three blue moons, including a ball of the century contender in Mumbai in 2012.
But just six months after the spellbinding Ashes triumph of 2005, England had been decimated by the loss of Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Simon Jones and Ashley Giles to injury and illness. Panesar, after being told he would be winning his first cap the night before, admits he was initially "starstruck" to find himself bowling against Indian royalty Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and MS Dhoni.
But the rookie's dismissal of Tendulkar catapulted him into the spotlight and he gave it the Full Monty with his excitable celebration. "It was one of those moments when you realise dreams can come true and miracles can happen," he said.
Panesar has admitted to "gazing" at India's star-studded team as if they were supermodels - such as Naomi Campbell or Kate Moss (Getty Images)"I had been in awe of Sachin, staring at him like a supermodel on the beach, and I've got to thank Freddie for helping to make that moment possible because he backed me, he set attacking fields for me and his captaincy was brave.
"When I knocked on his door, Fred must have wondered, 'What the bloody hell have we got here?' But that let him know how much I cared about playing for England, and that I wanted to be on the front line as an attacking weapon.
"His belief in me, against probably the strongest batting line-up in the world, helped me to snap out of this daydream as if I was gazing at Naomi Campbell or Kate Moss because I was playing for England, carrying a lot of people's hopes
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"Apart from Leach, this generation of England spinners is virtually unknown to the rest of the world because they haven't played much first-class cricket - but it's a great opportunity for them."