Missing: India's Spinning Reserves

Just two years ago, we had Harbhajan Singh & Pragyan Ojha doing a fine job for the test team. ODI team was managing well with Harbhajan Singh as the main spinner and Jadeja, Raina, Yuvraj rolling their arm over. Ashwin was amongst the front runners to win a spot in the Indian team with fine variations and a big heart. Piyush Chawla & Amit Mishra were still in the running for a spot in the team. Much of that has now changed. Let's see how.

Back in the present, Harbhajan has lost much of the guile that made him dangerous. Saying he is now a better batsman than an off spin bowler would be exaggerating it, but wouldn't be far from the truth. Not having played for the national team for almost 10 months now must be hitting him hard. His performance at the domestic level and IPL hasn't been anything to gloat over either. Ashwin, after a bright beginning to his ODI, Test career seems to have hit a point where he looks clueless while bowling on unhelpful pitches. He struggled in Australia and was back to bowling effectively in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh. Ashwin's stuggles were evident as Indian bowling attack looked one dimensional in Australia, in tests especially. Pragyan Ojha bowled exceptionally well in home conditions against West Indies and is expected to play an important role in the upcoming season against the visiting Kiwis and English. Amit Mishra & Piyush Chawla has effectively fallen off the selectors' radar. Mishra's tendency to over step surely a dampener. Piyush Chawla's over reliance on his googly, usage of that as his stock ball and lack of any other variety makes him predictable and easily flayable. Rahul Sharma is an addition to the list of talented spinners in the last 12 odd months. In the few opportunities he's got, he has bowled effectively. With experience, he can only get better. But who else does the Indian domestic circuit have to offer as replacement?

Once in surplus, spinners in Indian domestic cricket have diminished. All we find are left arm spinners in abundance. All the exciting talents in the spin bowling departments are left arm spinners. Iqbal Abdullah, Pawan Negi, Shahbaz Nadeem, Akshay Darekar make up that list.  Where did the good old offie go? Post Mishra, Chawla, Rahul Sharma we haven't witnessed an exciting young leggie either. Is the modern version of 'wham-boom' cricket turning youngsters away from spin bowling at the fear of being hit out of the park at every given opportunity? Spinners increasingly have begun to use yorkers to get back at the batsmen and not the traditional well flighted ball for deception in flight. Spin was once all about defeating the batsmen with guile and not a yorker or physical intimidation which was the pace bowlers' trait. 

The better spinners around the world today; Saeed Ajmal, Daniel Vettori & Graeme Swann to name a few have depended on their ability to think the batsmen out. Ashwin who started his career doing that, has now taken a step back being defensive in his ideas. Young spinners need constant guidance from seniors. Who better than a Kumble for India to take up the mantle? BCCI on its part must get the likes of Hirwani, Bahutule, Raju to impart their experiences and drill into youngsters the importance of good old drift and flight in their plan to counter the batsman's advances. Can only then hope, we have a happy selection confusion in the spin department. 

Indian Premier League 2011: Almost Glad It's Over

Fourth edition of Indian Premier League has been surely the most dullest of all 4 yet. The 2011 edition had two new team participating which understandably resulted in an increase in the number of matches played. Though 4 best teams in the competition made it to the play offs, there was monotony, boredom and lack of interest in the middle and latter stages of the competition. After the World Cup win, even the appetite for cricket of the insatiable Indian cricket fan was whetted. The 51 day IPL extravaganza was just saturation Indian fans hadn't experienced before.

Chennai Super Kings retained the trophy after clinical performance against the Royal Challengers Bangalore and rampaging Chris Gayle. Mumbai Indians, after dominating the initial leg of the competition lost their win with a string of losses, yet made it to the play offs. Kolkata Knight Riders, under new leadership of Gautam Gambhir and a good all round team made their first play off in IPL history. Some exhilarating individual performances were witnessed, some exciting new talents were unearthed, some old war horses continued to prove their immense worth, some talented players flopped and some teams came a cropper in a tough competition.

Rahul Sharma surely has been the find of the season. The leg spinner earned repute for his probing line and length and excellent variation very crucial in the T20 format. Iqbal Abdulla, Paul Valthaty, Ashok Menaria, Sreenath Aravind were other domestic talents who made a name for themselves this season. Ravichandra Ashwin, Manoj Tiwary, Ambati Rayudu, Vinay Kumar, Parthiv Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma presented case for themselves for selection with good performances.
Chris Gayle, James Hopes, Micheal Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Doug Bollinger, Lasith Malinga, Adam Gilchrist were surely the best overseas players in the tournament. Their presence in the team made enormous difference to the team's fortunes. A special mention here for Chris Gayle who well and truly changed Royal Challengers Bangalore's fortune with his mighty hitting and calm demeanor. Every time he came on to bat, he lit the stage alight. He missed out in the all important finals but had done enough to instill fear in every bowlers minds.

Indian World Cup heroes Tendulkar, Dhoni, Sehwag, Gambhir, Raina, Harbhajan, Munaf, Yusuf Pathan, Kohli were all backbone of their respective teams. Their presence boosted the team's morale as well as saleability of the team to the fans. Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings benefitted from having more than one member of the World Cup winning Indian team in the squad. Kings XI Punjab & Rajasthan Royals in a way suffered by not having Indian stars or the local flavour in their teams. Kochi Tuskers Kerala had son of the soil, Sreesanth in their team who made up for the lack of other big Indian stars.

Malinga's retirement from tests, Gayle, Bravo & Pollard's omission from WI team against Pakistan for opting IPL to national committments, injuries to Sehwag, Gambhir, Gambhir's decision to play IPL and skip India's tour of WI for treatment re-ignited the debate whether IPL should get a separate window in ICC's Future Tours Programme. Tony Grieg's strong criticism of the IPL and claiming ICC to be highly influenced by BCCI  made a talking point half way though the tournament. Shane Warne's public spat with RCA secretary Sanjay Dixit too made big news. An extremely avoidable issue which was blown in the media by childish behaviour by the champion leg spinner and the administrator.

I strongly opine IPL mustn't get a separate window. Getting that would mean complete domination of BCCI over ICC. Separate window would also result in all T20 leagues around the world requesting for windows in the FTP. ICC must have a stronger say in the happenings in the IPL. Shortening the duration of the tournament and allowing senior players to rest, reduction in travel time between matches and cut down on endorsements which make the player jersey look like trash are amongst the issues players would want ICC to take up with the IPL Governing Council; which by the look of things may never happen.

Author also writes on http://www.isport.in/