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Is pace the way ahead for India?
Cricket is a game where just about anything is open to debate. As part
of a weekly feature, two points of view on a topic are presented. The
reader, as the "Third Umpire", has the opportunity to read the cases
presented by the prosecutor and the defense counsel and give his/her
decision. In this issue, we debate if India would be better off
placing a greater emphasis on pace rather than spin.
The Offside
India's spin cupboard is at its barest now. Let us face it.
Harbhajan's performance against Australia remains a fluke until he
performs consistently at international level. In those three Tests,
apart from Harbhajan, four specialist spinners played for India. Their
contribution was six wickets. It was left to Tendulkar to contribute
with wickets, particularly at Kolkata. None of the current spinners,
with the possible exception of Sarandeep Singh, have impressed. In
desperation, Hirwani & Raju were recalled from the cricketing
Successful teams in history like Australia's 1948 'Invincibles',
England through the 1950s, West Indies in the 1960s, Australia in the
1970s and West Indies for the last two decades have always boasted top
quality quicks. In recent times, bowlers like McGrath, Gillespie,
Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Donald and Pollock have helped their sides
to many victories. If India has to join the ranks of these sides, the
only way forward is to focus on developing a potentially lethal pace
arsenal.
Srinath has performed quite well for India over the last decade. On
many occasions, he has wrecked the opposition on unhelpful tracks.
Zaheer Khan has been extremely impressive since his debut. He has the
ability to generate pace and is also very accurate. Ajit Agarkar may
be rubbished for his batting, but his bowling would indeed have
gladdened hearts because he has been able to bowl quick in spite of
his frail physique and was India's best bowler on view in Australia.
There is young talent in the form of Ashish Nehra, Rakesh Patel and
Gagandeep Singh who can be groomed to take over from Srinath when he
retires.
In the 1980s, India possessed a fine seam bowling attack. Kapil Dev
was the spearhead, ably supported by the likes of Sandhu, Binny, Madan
Lal, Chetan Sharma and Prabhakar. It is no surprise that in that
period, India won abroad on quite a few occasions, the highlights
being the win at Melbourne in 1981, the World Cup in 1983, the World
Championship of Cricket in 1985 and the 1986 series win in England.
Besides, during the last decade, on only two occasions has a spinner
led the wickets tally when India went abroad. Over the next year,
India tour Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies and England.
With the spin resources being what they are, the best thing for the
powers that be in Indian cricket, both at the administrative level and
among the players, is to focus on the development of good quick
bowlers and form a crop of young fast bowlers ready to play well for
India. In conclusion, pace is the way to go for India and that should
be the third umpire's decision.
The Onside
I'm sure very few know the answer for the first. Everyone knows the
answer to the second. This clearly indicates where India's strength
lies and where India's focus should lie. India has always produced
quality spinners, the likes of Mankad and Subhash Gupte in the 1950s.
Gupte was believed to be the finest spinner of his generation. Later,
India's spin quartet of Bedi, Prasanna, Chandra & Venkat mesmerised
batsmen all over the world, picking up over 800 wickets between
themselves. In the 80s, Maninder, Sivaramakrishnan & Hirwani all had
dream starts to their Test careers but fizzled out. Anil Kumble,
through the last decade has fashioned many Test wins for India.
Australia have the top quality spin of Warne or MacGill to backup the
quicks and this gives them the much needed balance as well as variety
in attack. Pakistan has Saqlain and Mushtaq Ahmed to provide the spin
while Sri Lanka's successes have mostly been due to Muralitharan
rather than their seamers. Spinners can do two jobs - take wickets
when the wicket is helpful and restrict runs if the wicket is not
giving much assistance. There have been so many instances of spinners
doing the trick in overseas Tests. Shane Warne has terrorized English
and South African batsmen on tours in the last decade. Muralitharan's
16 wicket haul at the Oval in 1998 will be remembered for a long time.
Comparing India's pace attack with that of Australia's, South
Africa's, Pakistan's or England's is a joke. Srinath is at the fag end
of his career. and is never fit most of the time. When he is, he
doesn't do too much damage. Agarkar's fitness and ability are very
suspect. Additionally he seems to lack common sense. If Harbhajan's
record haul against Australia is termed a fluke, Agarkar's topping the
bowling averages in Australia in 1999/2000 is as one-off as it can
get. In spite of a sensational debut at Kenya, Zaheer Khan has not
really lived upto expectations. He does have the ability, but there is
a long way to go. The less said about the others among the current
crop like Nehra, Harvinder & Mohanty, the better. All of them have
been tried at the international level and found wanting.
Concentrating on pace is not going to do any good to India's fortunes
in the future. Spin has been our strength and it is with spin that
India will win. I therefore rest my case asking that the third umpire
rule so.
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