The England skipper, Heather Knight, described the circumstances at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai as “extreme” following her team’s crushing 347-run loss in the one-off Test. The 32-year-old continued by saying that she “would be surprised” if they were required to play in identical circumstances for the 2025 ODI World Cup in India and the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh. She added that if her side can strengthen their spin, things would shift more significantly for her side down the road.
“We have never experienced such a high degree of spin or such a parched pitch before; these conditions were very severe. Heather Knight stated following England’s defeat, “We are not going to get as much [turn] as that in the primary formats we play, T20 and 50 overs.
“In the past, the ball not spinning has been the main source of our problems with spin. Take a look at Ash Gardner’s Ashes wicket total; not many of them were spun. My expulsion included balls that didn’t spin and outside edges that spun a lot.
“Unless we play another Test in India in the near future, which I’m not sure is in the schedule, I’d be astonished if we faced those tough conditions again. We wish to improve under whatever circumstances that may arise in Bangladesh. The 32-year-old continued, “Spin does rule the women’s game, and if we can improve that, it will give us a tremendous edge.
The pitch most likely deteriorated a little more quickly than we anticipated: Heather Knight
Heather Knight added that they had underestimated how quickly the pitch would deteriorate. After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, India scored 428 in the opening innings. With offspinner Deepti Sharma taking 5 for 7 in just 5.3 overs, they then put England at 28/7. England was knocked out for 136 and 131 in the second innings, while India declared at 186.
It’s likely that the pitch deteriorated a little bit quicker than we anticipated. In the early innings, it was passably excellent to bat on. It was a pretty intense spin. With two wickets in the first day, we bowled fairly well. When your best ball doesn’t carry to slips, it can be devastating for certain fast bowlers to have a few nicks that did not carry.
“We discovered that the wobbling ball was quite useful, and we made every effort to capitalize on that. The pitch deteriorated, so it seams a little bit more and it seams a little bit when it spins,” the England captain continued.
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