England batter Harry Brook believes the “smog” in Kolkata was partly responsible for England’s failure with the bat against Indian spinners in a seven-wicket loss to India in the first T20I. England batters failed to tackle Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel as India’s spin trio returned with excellent figures of 67 for 5 in 12 overs on Wednesday.
Brook was the first English batter to fall to Chakravarthy as the Indian spinner castled him via bat and pad. However, Brook blamed Eden Gardens’ hazy conditions for complicating matters, saying that he hopes for better visibility in Chennai in the second T20I.
“Chakaravarthy is an exceptionally good bowler,” Brook said. “But with the smog the other night, it was a lot harder to pick. Hopefully the air is a bit clearer here and we can see the ball a bit easier.”
Brook said that he will look to improve his performance as England eye a series-levelling win in Saturday’s second T20I at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium. Brook played a key role in England’s T20 World Cup victory in 2022 and was the No.1 batter in the ICC Men’s Test batting rankings last month. The Yorkshire batter also became England’s first triple centurion since 1990, scoring a remarkable 317 against Pakistan in Multan in October.
“Facing spin in T20 cricket is probably the hardest thing in the game, especially because I always get out trying to absolutely smack it,” he said. “Maybe I’ve got to rein in a little bit, but we’ll see. I think I do have a method. It’s just trying to do it consistently and more often. I come in in the middle order, so the first few balls I face are usually off spin.”
“If I get out early, it’s usually against a spinner, so maybe my stats aren’t as good against spin, but there’s always going to be criticism in some parts.”
