Spin bowling is out of date in the first world of economics, capitalism, power and belief in force, power, and misuse or overuse of it in and out of season, especially outside the first world (of power). Might is right and power is symbolised by fast bowling. Spin bowling is not tough, but yielding, beguiling and adaptive, getting around the obstacle and defence in unexpected ways, as running water does (the universe is reflected in a drop of water). When your opponent can change his poise, he is dangerous, because you can't read him. In cricket, literacy at the wicket counts, and any communication gap communication between the wickets is risky.
Some believe that spin bowling is vegetarian stuff; it is all fibre and no meat muscle! The Bengalees have the dubious negative fame of being brainy and wily, because, as one foreign critic put it, they eat the insects of water, namely, fish (which is rich in phosphorous, and good for the brain)!
The Shane Warne voodoo came down crashing in tropicalized India, perhaps humbled by humidity. The Australians have not been generally very successful during the tours of the subcontinent (starting with the culinary incompatibility). Australia may be hot and dry, but the tropical heat and humidity are more uncomfortable. It is sticky weather; but whether the wicket is sticky only the experts and the players can tell. That could possibly explain partly why the mighty nation Down Under are keen to get out of the Commonwealth (the major portion of the Commonwealth is tropical), and prefer to live without a queen.
In the tropics the weather is sticky, and the ball hangs in the air a bit longer, and the batsmen mis-time the ball, beaten in the air during the flight, or by the break after pitching. The true spinner is not spinning yarns, but spins a web, which may spell out the reality during the micro period when the bat and ball are about to meet, or miss. He makes the ball disappear for a fraction of a second, before the batsman finds it on the pad, between his legs, amongst the stumps, or in the hands of the wicketkeeper or a fielder. What's wrong with flirting? It is a fair sport.
Reality is round, spinning, dipping, dropping, and turning viciously till the last moment of uncertainty. The ball is not drugged, bugged or bribed; it is a googly missile in elaborate slow motion, aimed for the narrow opening between the bat and the pad, or nestle on the pad itself. A fast ball is hurried on to its target, and the swing and the swerve are expected and accepted in the true western spirit of gamesmanship. Is a googly a display of unsporting spirit at either or both ends of the wicket, namely with the batsman or the bowler? A fast ball is business-like; but cricket is not business. It is basking in the sun - that's how it started.
There is some homely conspiracy in the unimaginative flight of the spinning ball after it leaves the bowler and before it reaches the batsman. Unimaginative because the laws of dynamics take over, as could be analysed by the computer, or slow motion flight studies. Cricket is not crooked if you play with the straight bat; but it is entirely a different talent for the batsman to make the ball hit the middle of the bat, which the wily bowler (a trickster of the palm) is always trying to prevent - he goes for the edges. Edgy shots makes the batsman edgy. He blames the cagey bowler, and glares at the bribed pitch - with the groundsmen nowhere in sight.
Today South Asia is the home of spin, the last bastion, led by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Their batsmen are accustomed to the variations of the spin and have learnt how to handle, fondle, and play the frolicking baby.
The Australians and the rest of the batsmen outside S Asia are not accustomed or exposed to top-class spin bowling for longer spells in day to day cricket, compared to fast or medium fast bowling in their local leagues. The S African batsmen are also weak in playing spin attack. Perhaps it has something to do with the national culture in every cricketing country. There is something common between the sultry sirens and the sultry weather.
The Indian batsmen overcame the wiles of Warne because they have played more slower balls than fast. Simply put, the critical statistical data is the number of man-hours involved in playing slow and fast bowlers. India today lack a couple of genuine fast bowlers of world class, as the Pakistan pair of 2Ws (Pakistan is situated at a higher latitude). The same is the problem with the mighty one dayers Sri Lanka short of genuine pace (nearer the Equator).
Why cricket is so popular? It is a game of instinct (a trial between two individuals), the replication of man the traditional hunter from the era of the forefathers. The origin of cricket is not far to seek danda gulli. Pick up a stick and hit at the moving spot coming at you. That's cricket, if you are padded up in flannel, gloves helmet and spiked boots. How's that? Not out!