Yorked with Monty Panesar: 'Best delivery in the world' to Sachin Tendulkar, 2012 triumph, India vs England Test series preview

In the latest episode of Yorked, Firstpost’s cricket podcast, we caught up with former England cricketer Monty Panesar as India and England are set to renew their rivalry with a four-match Test series, starting on 5 February at Chennai. During the humorous and insightful conversation, Monty revisited the 2012 Test series triumph which was England’s first on Indian soil in 28 years. He recollected the dressing room conversations that spurred the team to mount the comeback triumph. England, in 2012, lost the first Test by nine wickets in Ahmedabad before bouncing back in Mumbai to level the series with a 10-wicket win. One of the heroes of the famous victory was Monty, who was surprisingly left out of the first Test, with 11 wickets in the match. He took 17 wickets in the series. That Mumbai Test is also remembered for Monty’s magical delivery to Sachin Tendulkar when the former left-arm spinner got the ball to turn square from the middle stump to hit the top of off. Monty felt that it was the “best delivery in the world” at that time. That wicket in many ways set the tone for the series as England would then go on to win the third match at Kolkata before drawing the final Test at Nagpur to clinch the series 2-1. Monty also previewed the upcoming Test series and talked about England’s chances. The visitors are short on experience and would be challenging an Indian side would be high on confidence following after beating Australia in their own den. He also shared what English spinners — Dominic Bess, Jack Leach, and Moeen Ali — need to do to be successful on the Indian soil against the likes of Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara. Check out our Yorked podcasts