The web of spin
Sahajbir Brar - 16 May 2002
Call it a web or a booby trap, but Indian cricket has always been
bound by a web of spin. Gone are the days of the famous spin quartet,
when Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrashekhar, Bishan Singh Bedi and
Srinivas Venkataraghavan sent fear into the hearts of batsmen across
the globe with their masterly craft and skill.
The Indians have never been known as aggressive or overtly physical,
and this is reflected in their cricket, for never have they had the
likes of a Michael Holding or Jeff Thompson. But at the same time,
rarely have other teams possessed a similar wealth of talent in the
spin department. Indians, by nature, are thinkers - crafty and clever
- and so this ability is mirrored in the Indian predilection for spin.
However, this fascination has had somewhat of a negative influence on
Indian cricket, limiting the team's potency away from home. It is a
fact that the spinners of yesteryear have done wonders for their
teams, but Indian spinners today are not as effective as they used to
be .
The rigours of one-day cricket have also caused the off-spinner to
bowl flatter and the leg-spinner to bowl straighter, converting them
to defensive and economy bowlers rather than attacking ones. This has
restricted the Indian spinners' influence on Tests, particularly
abroad. Harbhajan Singh, Sarandeep Singh and Anil Kumble alike have
enjoyed only limited success away from home. They have done
exceptionally well in India, where pitches are tailor-made for the
slow bowlers, a fact that prompts several cricket experts to believe
that success at home for any spinner of even average quality is
imminent.
Unless pitches are made quicker, India may never see the likes of
another Kapil Dev. Across the border, on the other hand, is Pakistan,
another major thread that forms a part of the web. Pakistan has
consistently produced world-class fast-bowlers - Imran Khan, Wasim
Akram, Waqar Younis and now Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami. Pitches
cannot quicken across a mere steel fence to the west, so it is just a
matter of attitude, temperament and history. As every Pakistani
youngster wishes to be an Imran, so shall every Indian kid aspire to
be a batsman or a spinner.
It i time for India to get rid of this extreme predilection towards
spin, one that prompts them to pick a spinner for every Test
regardless of record or conditions. A shining example is the recently
concluded second Test at Barbados, where even a child could have
informed the team management that going in with Harbhajan Singh meant
excess baggage and not variety. The pitch was a fast-bowling paradise,
as the West Indies would be willing to confirm, and we had Harbhajan
bowling flat off-spinners to a defensive field.
India must break out of this web, unless we find a Muttiah
Muralitharan, who can take wickets on the flattest of tracks in the
world. They must grow to recognise that a fourth seamer is not always
a bad option. The past must not hold us back. The Australians, after
all, had no trouble letting go of the Waughs, so India definitely can.
Four world-class spinners decades ago does not mean that the current
lot are bound for similar greatness and stardom.
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