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.

The views expressed above are solely those of the guest contributor and are carried as written, with only minor editing for grammar, to preserve the original voice. These contributed columns are solely personal opinion pieces and reflect only the feelings of the guest contributor. Their being published on CricInfo.com does not amount to an endorsement by CricInfo's editorial staff of the opinions expressed.
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