NAGPUR, Dec 14: One of the finest exponents of reverse swing, former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram feels the Indian bowlers have not been able to use the art as well as their English counterparts are, in the ongoing Test series.

“Look at the state of the ball in Kolkata when the two teams were bowling,” said Wasim.

“When India had the ball it was average looking. Nobody was bothering to shine the ball, or take responsibility for keeping it dry. When England bowled it was different. One side of the ball was shiny and the other dry,” he observed.

The 46-year-old thought the Indians are not running in hard enough to get the delivery going.

“I think England have realised that you have to sprint in to bowl reverse swing. Compare them both to Ishant and Zaheer. England’s bowlers were sprinting.

“You have to put that effort in to bowl reverse swing. Myself, Waqar (Younis) and Imran (Khan), we reversed it because we ran in hard,” he said.

James Anderson and Co, according to Wasim, is bowling more like the Pakistan team. “The way they bowled tells me England will only get better in this series because they have the knowledge of reverse swing. To me it looked like the Pakistan team were playing out there, it really did.” —Agencies