IND vs ENG: Zak Crawley reveals mantra of ‘tackling spin’ in second Test in Vizag

England opener Zak Crawley likes the idea of sweeping and reverse sweeping the spinners, only to kill their zeal on rank turners in India. After successfully displaying their sweep shots in the first Test in Hyderabad, which England shockingly won by 28 runs despite trailing by 190 runs in the first innings, the visiting side will continue playing with the same template in the remainder of the five-match series.

Ahead of the second Test in Vizag that starts on Friday, Crawley revealed England’s plans for tackling the threatening spin trio of Jadeja, Ashwin and Axar.

Detailing further on their approach in their quest to take a 2-0 lead in this series, Crawley said the ‘Bazball’ style of cricket comes naturally to most players in the side.

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"I suppose it ('Bazball') comes naturally, as a lot of our teams are playing more aggressively. The mindset when I first came to England was to take your time and build a long innings. I didn't think that came naturally to me and a few of the others. A lot of us play a bit better under this regime," Crawley said ahead of the second Test.

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Although the travelling England side reached India just three days before the start of the first Test (in Hyderabad), they trained for nearly two weeks in the UAE on the pitches that turned from ball one – something they expected on this India tour.

Crawley said England practised on dry pitches in Abu Dhabi and came in prepared for the marquee Test series.

"There are four games left. We have got to stick to what we do well. The wickets in Abu Dhabi (where they trained) turned a lot because we wanted them, and we made them turn," the right-handed batter added.

‘Sweep takes spin out of the plan’

After Ollie Pope’s heroics in the second innings, wherein he scored 196 runs, with most of the scoring shots coming off sweeps and reverse sweeps, Crawley said this tactic has kept the Indian spin attack silent, something they are willing to continue with.

"Sweeping and reverse sweeping when it's spinning is a good option. It takes spin out of the plan. I think the reverse sweep is more common for us because there's just less fielders in the deep. The reverse sweep comes probably just as naturally to us as the normal sweep," Crawley added.

England leadthe five-match series 1-0, with the second Test starting on Friday (Feb 2).