Former England off-spinner and forever Ashes hero Graeme Swann talks to TOI about all things spin ahead of the India-England Test in Birmingham...Is it fair to say that since you retired, England have not had a world-class off-spinner who can bowl menacingly in Tests?England have struggled with spinners since I finished. They've had some good bowlers, though. Moeen Ali is a vastly under-rated off-spinner. He could have taken more Test wickets. The main issue is the way spinners are captained and looked after in England. It is diabolical. A lot of captains in English cricket don't understand how a spinner works, how his mind needs to be during a game, how his field setting needs to be. I was lucky I had captains who let me take onus and control. Andrew Strauss was exceptional. He let me have my own fields and would come up with suggestions every now and again. I was quite a gregarious, confident character so that suited me. In the past, the English way was to always be very, very negative… as a captain, to not start with attacking fields, to force a spinner to just go one an over and then gradually bring in fielders if the pressure builds. I always thought it was the other way around: as a finger spinner, you should build the pressure immediately. Your first 10-15 balls to a batsman are your most dangerous, that is when the batsman hasn't read you.
