ENG vs IND 2025: ‘In my eyes, Jack Leach is still England’s best spinner’ – Nathan Lyon

England left-arm spinner Jack Leach has not played a Test match since last year’s tour of Pakistan. He didn’t have a great time in spin-friendly conditions. In three Tests, he took 16 wickets at an average of 31.43 and a strike rate of 50.75. On the other hand, his fellow spinner Shoaib Bashir bagged nine wickets at an average of 49.55 and a strike rate of 79.44. However, England went on to back Bashir as their frontline spinner for the subsequent tours.

When Bashir was injured while playing the third Test against India in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 and ruled out of the remaining matches, many expected that Leach would return to the setup. However, that wasn’t to be as Liam Dawson made a comeback to Test cricket after eight years.

After Dawson failed to make much of an impact, he was left out of the playing XI for the fifth and final Test match. Jacob Bethell will be playing as a spin-bowling all-rounder in the high-voltage encounter.

Star Australian spinner Nathan Lyon said that he got to know from James Anderson and others at Lancashire that England are trying to have Shoaib Bashir play the role he plays for the Australian team. However, Lyon mentioned that Leach is still England’s best spinner.

“I obviously played with Jimmy Anderson last year at Lancashire, and they basically said that they’re picking Bashir to do what I do. So I took a little bit of pride out of Jimmy respecting a little bit of what I’ve been able to do in my career. But Bashir has been okay,” Lyon said while speaking at a Cricket Australia sponsorship announcement in Sydney on Thursday, July 31.

“Jacob Bethell is playing this Test match [at The Oval against India], and he looks like he’ll take up the spin bowling from Liam Dawson. But in my eyes, Jack Leach is still their best spinner,” the 37-year-old added.

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