WHEN India meet England in a highprofile World Cup match in Bangalore on Sunday, it will not be surprising if they name a second specialist spinner in their playing eleven.

Spinners have caught the eye in early matches on low, slow pitches, with Zimbabwe going to the extreme of using five slow men to make defending champions Australia struggle for runs in Ahmedabad on Monday.

The performances of Zimbabwean spinners Raymond Price, Prosper Utseya and Graeme Cremer, who conceded 127 in a combined tally of 30 overs, against a formidable batting line-up will surely encourage captains to turn to spin.

India went with three seamers and one specialist spinner (Harbhajan Singh) in the opening game against Bangladesh, but realised they were short of one quality spinner after

paceman Shanthak um aran Srees anth leaked 53 in five overs.

They did not have to pay dearly for Sreesanth’s offday as they had already posted a massive 370-4, a total they successfully defended. But the hosts need to be on their toes against England, having excellent batsmen.

England skipper Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott smashed half-centuries in their team’s win against the Netherlands on Tuesday, but off-spinner Graeme Swann’s contribution with the ball was equally important.

Swann illustrated the significance of spin when he finished with 2-35 off 10 disciplined overs.

England will face their first big spin test against India as the hosts are likely to include either leg-spinner Piyush Chawla or off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

“It’s still very early in the tournament but India need to get their bowling sorted,” former India leg-spinner Anil Kumble wrote in a newspaper column.