Mumbai, Nov 23: The two-pronged off-spin attack that India are using in the second Test against England is a ploy that the hosts last used a decade ago.
Spin is the trump card India are using to undermine England on a Wankhede Stadium track that has afforded copious spin to the visiting tweakers -- Monty Panesar and Graame Swann -- with the hosts fielding three frontline slow bowlers for the first time after six years.
This was in total contrast to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's words at the pre-game media conference that India were to field two medium pacers and spinners -- Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha.
It was at Mohali in the opening game of the 2006 drawn series (1-1) that India had last fielded three frontline slow bowlers with Harbhajan being part of the trio along with the now retired Anil Kumble and the discarded Piyush Chawla.
In the early 1990s when Mohammed Azharuddin was the captain, Venkatapathy Raju, Rajesh Chauhan and Kumble had played together in the same match, including in the 1992-93 home rubber against England.
It was also in a series against England that two off-spinners played in the same Test on Indian soil when Harbhajan Singh and Sarandeep Singh turned out in the same game in Bangalore in December 2001.
