England failed the spin test in Kolkata as they were bowled out for 132 despite skipper Jos Buttler's half-century. Only two other batters scored in double digits, one of them was middle-order batter Harry Brook. The young batter managed to score just 17 runs from 14 balls but struggled against spinners, especially Varun Chakravarthy. Eventually, he was knocked over by Chakravarthy as well. Ahead of the second T20I at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, Brook has blamed smog in Kolkata for England batters' struggle to pick the ball against spinners.
"I didn't face Bishnoi but Chakravarthy is an exceptionally good bowler," Brook said in the pre-match press conference. "He's tough to pick. I think actually with the smog the other night, it was a lot harder to pick as well. Hopefully, the air is a bit clearer here and we can see the ball a bit easier.
"He's an exceptional bowler and has got a lot of skills with extreme accuracy as well. Their spinners are their key threat, so we will look to put pressure on them, take them down, put as much pressure as we can on them, and hopefully they crumble from there."
This is not the first time England players have blamed smog for their loss. On the 1992-93 tour, England's then chief selector, Ted Dexter, blamed the defeat in the opening Test on smog at the venue.
While Brook talked about not being able to pick the ball in the smog, it has become a nuisance at some of the venues in India. In 2017, Sri Lankan players vomitted during a Test in winters as the smog got the better of them.
Brook also opened about criticism around his record against spinners in the format.
"Maybe I have got to rein in a little bit but we will see. I do have a method against it. It is just trying to do it consistently and a little more often. I come in in the middle order, so the first few balls I face are usually off-spin. So if I get out early, it is usually against a spinner, so maybe my stats are not as good against spin, and there is always going to be criticism in some parts," the 25-year-old concluded.
Despite the comprehensive defeat by seven wickets, England have made no changes in the batting department. They have replaced Gus Atkinson with Brydon Carse. Coming to bat at no.8, Atkinson had a troubled stay at the crease managing to score two runs from 12 balls. He eventually threw his wicket away as he got stumped by Sanju Samson off Axar Patel's delivery. He was unimpressive with the ball as well conceding 38 runs from two overs.
England's playing XI for 2nd T20I against India
Ben Duckett, Phil Salt (wk), Jos Butler (c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood