Sarandeep Singh could not have had the happiest of bowling spells at the Bourda in Guyana. He and his fellow trundlers were forced to toil relentlessly under a hot sun, and Sarandeep himself had only one wicket to show for it. Yet he was able to look on the brighter side of the situation.

"I know that Bishan Singh Bedi will be happier than me today," said the off-spinner at the end of the first day's play of the first Test match between India and the West Indies.

Asked why, Sarandeep, with nine wickets thus far from his first two Tests, said, "I wasn't sure of playing the Test. So when he switched on the television and saw me playing, he must have been happy, since he was always behind me."

Before being called up for emergency duty by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), he was informed of the move by Madan Lal, one of the selectors. The information spurred Sarandeep to fly straight to New Delhi and land up at the home of the greatest Indian left-arm spinner of them all - Bedi.

Bedi, incidentally, was in the Caribbean for both the 1971 and 1975-76 tours, skippering the touring party in the second one. India won two Tests at Port-of-Spain in those tours, their only successes in the islands. One would be hard-pressed, therefore, to find a better person to advise Sarandeep on how to bowl spin on West Indian wickets.

Sarandeep did just that and came out of Bedi's house with some invaluable tips. "He had asked me to bowl in such a way that the ball does not reach to the batsman too fast," he said. "Instead, the batsman should try to reach the ball. Being natural stroke-makers, the Caribbean batsmen will find it difficult to execute and can be victimised. That was the first thing Bishan Sir told me."

"It is wise in the Caribbean for the spinner to be tight in line and length. The batsman should be invited to attack the spinner. So you should try to bowl wicket to wicket. If you can do so, half the battle is won," was further advice that Bedi gave to his young pupil.

Sarandeep, on the first day, was seen trying to put those instructions into practice, but in Carl Hooper he ran up against one of the finest contemporary batsmen of spin who, to make matters more difficult, was in the midst of a scintillating run of form.

Did he ask for any specific tips on how to bowl to Brian Lara, especially after the way he batted against Muttiah Muralitharan? "He just advised me to bowl wicket to wicket again and not allow Lara to play his strokes," said Sarandeep. "'The ball should not be outside the stumps; he looks for width. Deny him that space,' he told me. But that Lara was exceptionally successful against Murali is a fact I won't remember while bowling against him. I have to bowl according to my own plans."

Of late, Sarandeep has also developed the "doosra," or the off-spinners away-going delivery, and this has garnered him many wickets in domestic matches. "I got Nasser Hussain in the Bangalore Test with the 'doosra.' So I am well-equipped with it and know how and when to use it," said Sarandeep.

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