England team for the first Test match announced their playing XI a day before the start of the match itself, and much to everyone's surprise the team has included three spinners in their team combination which includes names like Rehan Ahmed, Jack Leach, and Tom Hartley while the most experienced pacer James Anderson isn't considered in the equation.
Tom Hartley is an English cricketer who started his FC career by playing for Lancashire in the Bob Willis Trophy in August 2020 and as of now, he has represented Lancashire in 20 first-class matches. In the ongoing County Championship Division One 2023 tournament he has picked a total of 19 wickets from 17 innings in 10 FC matches.
Tom Hartley has got a national call-up to the England Test squad since they needed a spin bowling attack on Indian soil and notably, his decent performance with the ball as a spinner has got the balls of captain and selectors.
Tom Hartley in total has picked a total of 40 wickets in FC cricket from 32 innings (20 matches) and notably, he made his International debut during the Ireland tour of England in a three-match ODI series. He got an opportunity to play two ODIs for England but went wicketless.
Tom Hartley has a good experience of playing 82 T20 games where has a total of 68 wickets in that format, and in the recently concluded Hundred tournament in 2023 he picked a total of 8 wickets overall.