The skipper of the Indian cricket team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has said that the Indian team would go into the first test match against England with two fast bowlers and two spinners. After the inclusion of Harbhajan Singh in the squad, there were speculations that India might opt to go with three spinners, but, the Indian skipper has made it clear that it is not the plan of the team management and one of these three spinners would have to sit out.

Talking to the reporters ahead of the first test match against England, Dhoni told the reporters, “In the test matches in India, we like to go with two pacers and two spinners and our strategy is going to be the same in this match as well. We will go with three spinners only if we will get a square turner just like we had got against South Africa in Kanpur four years ago.”

When asked who is better between Ravichandran Ashwin and the Pakistani off spinner, Saeed Ajmal, Dhoni said, “I don’t think the two of them should be compared. They are completely different bowlers. Ajmal bowls with a much greater pace and his doosra is just superb. It’s not easy to use the feet against him.”

“On the other hand, Ashwin has got more variations than Ajmal. Ashwin can bowl off spin, doosra, top spinner, carom ball and googly. He likes to give the ball air and he bowls with a slower speed.”

Dhoni also gave information about the fitness of the fast bowler Ishant Sharma. The Indian skipper said, “Ishant has got viral flu and he is not likely to get fit before the start of the match. So, the two fast bowlers that we would go with are Zaheer and Umesh.”