The ‘Turning’ Point

‘Your aim should be to toss the ball up, concentrate on one spot and try pitching your delivery there’ – These were the golden words that echoed in the ears of every aspiring spinner during the initial stages of their careers.

All the coaching manuals and tutorial videos of legends from this art of cricket have emphasized on one fact and that is to flight the ball, let it spin and deceive the batsman. But the advent of T20 cricket has proven itself to be a ‘turning’ point in the way this game is played. Spin bowling is the one which has been affected the most by this especially in India, a country known to harbor legends in spin bowling.

The difference in styles of bowling between the modern day spinners and the spinners from the past is drastic as the legends like Errapali Prasanna, Bishan Singh Bedi and BR Chandrashekhar were known for their accuracy, consistency and long spells, and the spinners in the 1990s and 2000s such as Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh were known for their variations in both, deliveries and pace. Seeing the current face of Indian spin bowling, apart from Ravichandran Ashwin, there is no one who can be compared to the legends mentioned above.

What is the reason behind this dearth of good quality spinners from a nation where the visiting teams are compelled to play 2 spinners in the playing XI?

The infusion of T20 cricket into all the levels of local and domestic cricket is hazardous for the future of spin bowling. In a format where 7 runs an over is considered economical, a young spinner has to go out of the conventional way to curb runs and the more he is exposed to this format, the more he is bowling the unorthodox. The fact that local tournament organizers focus more on the brevity of the event than on the quality of it, even the players have to adopt such ways.

Delhi, currently, has no tournaments that feature a longer format and most of the tournaments are generally not more than 30 overs a side. The repercussions of these are seen when these spinners play a 3-day or a 4-day match during the BCCI season. Since they have been playing the shorter format throughout the year, adjusting to longer format becomes a problem.

The competition for that one spot in a state team is such that a failure in even one inning would cost that player his berth in the team. Citing the probability of performing and retaining the spot in the team, the spinners refrain from adjusting into the new format and end up applying the same tactics they used during the 30-over games they played.

The local organizers are so stupefied by the T20 format that even the pitches prepared for the local tournaments are batsmen friendly. On wickets where there is no scope of turning the ball, a spinner finds himself in a predicament. Bowling text book spin where he would stick to a line, flight the ball and invite the batsman to a shot looks distant then and he resorts to bowling quick and tries to tether the batsman.

India has a very sound domestic circuit where 3-day, 4-day or even 5-day cricket is given more importance than the shorter formats. Ranji Trophy and the 4-day matches at the junior level provide a very good platform for young spinners to showcase their skills, but the problem is at the grass root level where spinners do not get exposure to this format of cricket. Not just in Delhi but all over India, there is a paucity of such tournaments. The Kolkata League is probably the only famous 2-day club level tournament these days which has some credibility.

With more focus on stopping runs than on taking wickets, spinners these days have made the unconventional as the new conventional. A reflection of this can be seen on the national front where it is not difficult to find a good economical spinner for the shorter format but finding a good quality test spinner becomes a herculean task. R Ashwin, who is currently leading the Indian spin attack, becomes innocuous when he bowls abroad. In cases such as these, India has no replacement for him.

When Ashwin failed in the 1st Test in South Africa he was replaced by Ravindra Jadeja in the 2nd, a quintessential limited overs bowler. Some names like Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Harmeet Singh do cross the mind when we think about the future of spin in India but apart from the young left arm spinner Harmeet Singh, both the other spinners have been hanging around the picture for a very long time and have failed to make a mark.

India has always been associated with spinners and the emergence of T20 cricket is tampering its reputation worldwide in that field. India needs to groom young spinners for the longer format not only for better results but also to preserve this art of spin. Is the future of spin bowling secure in India?

The answer to this question will be answered in the future only when they turn the ‘turning’ point back.