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Sometimes, the greatest loss comes with the greatest gains, and England would have certainly realized that after their series loss against India. Yes, it is disheartening to lose a series, especially if that is a captain's first series loss. But Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum won't mind this defeat.
Why should they when both have found three highly talented young spinners?
Succeeding as a spinner is an uphill task in a country like England, where a quality pacer is found in every street. History is evidence of that. If asked on the spot to name England's famous spinners in a minute, only a few can be called for.
Forget history. Let's talk about recent times. Since Graeme Swann retired, whenever England tours an Asian country, they will carry new spinners who fade off after that series. Does anyone remember Gareth Batty, Dom Bess, Liam Dawson and Zafar Ansari? They did not even make a case for them to stay.
Hartley, Bashir, and Rehan won't be forgotten so easily.
Inexperienced? It doesn't matter
The selection committee boldly offered Test caps to young spinners with minimal first-class experience. Being bold has been a trait in the Bazball era, which has paid off. Of course, Jack Leach's expertise always going to be there.
However, players with even a wealth of FC experience tend to falter in their first Asian series, which has been the case for England since 2014. Even Leach, their best spinner since Swann, had to toil hard in the FC circuit before playing a game in Asia. To be precise, he had 218 wickets in 106 FC innings (including Tests) before playing a game in the sub-continent.
In fact, before the three youngsters - Hartley, Bashir and Rehan - every spinner who played a series in Asia post-2014 bagged over 120 wickets before playing a game in Asia.
Meanwhile, Rehan had four, Bashir had ten, and Hartley had 40 wickets before their first sub-continent game. Will Jacks, who picked up a six-for in the first innings he bowled, is predominantly a batter and part-time off-spinner, just like Joe Root.
In Asia, India remains the biggest hurdle for any touring nation. Even some of the greatest spinners of Asia, be it Rangana Herath or Muttiah Muralitharan, have struggled to succeed in India. To prove it with facts, Herath, who averages 26 in Asia, has bagged a wicket every 54.3 runs in five matches in India, and the great Murali, who averages 21.7 in Asia, has a wicket every 45.5 runs in India.
But, each of the three young spinners of England have picked up 10+ wickets in their debut series in India. Though Rehan had already debuted in Asia (Pakistan in 2022), he walked into this series with just one Test experience. Adding on, Rehan gained just 12 innings of FC experience between his games in Pakistan and India. This meant, heading into the first Test in Hyderabad, he had bowled 16 innings in FC.
In Tests since 2000 in India, 18 spinners have picked up 10+ wickets in their debut visit. Among those 18, only six had less than 50 FC wickets before playing a series in India, and three are from this series. Bashir and Rehan have the least and second-least experience in terms of wickets.
The best part about their success is that they are all under 25. The trio has a lot of years to evolve and will get better and better as time flies.
More wickets than Indian spinners
Usually, when a team comes to India, they are bruised and battered. Indian spinners are relentlessly on the attack, and the home team batters pounce on struggling overseas spinners.
An overseas spin attack hardly lays a load on the Indian batters. It happens only once in a blue moon, which is one reason England, in 2012, managed to win the series.
There might be occasional brilliance, but no visiting spin attack constantly manages to put the Indian batters under pressure. Steve O'Keefe in 2017 and Todd Murphy in 2023 are a few examples.
Despite the series loss, England spinners have been better than the home team spinners. Yes! You heard it right. It is a slim margin of difference, but to even out on Indian spinners is itself an achievement, and if the visitors have been above them, it is a triumph.
The English spinners have snaffled 53 wickets cumulatively compared to India's 51. However, Indian spinners have a better average (28.1) than the visitors (38.5). Let's look at the encouraging side. India have played 40 home bilateral series in this century. In those 40, the opposition spinners bagged more wickets on ONLY TWO occasions. One is this series (difference of two), and the other is way back in 2005 when Pakistan toured India.
Adding more on the wicket lines, for the first time in a bilateral Test series in India, the opposition tweakers have bagged 50+ wickets. Let us spice it up more. England spinners are also the first to bag 50+ wickets in a bilateral Test series in Asia among the non-sub-continent nations.
Now, those are some records that Stokes and McCullum will be proud to hear.
A visitor leading the pack
After a series win for India at home, the common assumption is that an Indian spinner would be the leader of the wickets table. It is understandable. There is Ravichandran Ashwin, who has over 350 home Test wickets and ten Player of the Series awards on one end, and Ravindra Jadeja, who has 200+ wickets on the other.
With these two devastators, it is hard to think of anyone apart from them.
Hartley, in his debut series, exceeded expectations. Despite going through a lot of criticism in his debut innings, he came out and silenced everyone in the second. His seven-for in the second innings helped England register a win in Hyderabad.
The left-arm spinner has scalped at least one wicket in each of the eight innings he has bowled in this series. Overall, he has 20 wickets in eight innings this series, the most by a bowler.
How often does a visitor lead, you ask? We say very rarely.
In a bilateral Test series in India since 2000, only in five series, including this one, has an opposition bowler, irrespective of being a pacer or spinner, led the wickets list. The last one was in 2021.
Imagine a 24-year-old spinner from a non-sub-continent country on debut playing a series in India. There are two goliaths, Ashwin and Jadeja, in the opposition. Going up against those giants and having more wickets than them is a cloud-nine start.
Anecdote: In Tests this century, only Adil Rashid (23) in the 2016 series had more wickets than Hartley among visiting spinners on their first tour to India.
Stokes and McCullum have been the flag bearers of experimentations. They have had success with personnel and team results most of the time. The results might not have gone their way this time, but they have struck gold, diamond, and platinum in certain player developments.
