There is a growing concern for the steady decline of quality spinners in the country. Experienced left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, who played his 19th season, blames the Twenty20 and one-day cricket for the dip. The 36-year-old Railways spinner, who played for India in eight Tests and 37 ODIs only, is from the old school of thought that a spinner has to purchase a wicket.
“Spin bowling is all about tossing the ball up in the air, giving the ball revolutions and trying to spin the ball,” said the crafty spinner.
On spinners’ standard in the country now
Most of the spinners are learning the basics the other way round. Playing one-day and Twenty20 cricket will not enhance your skills of bowling spin. Spin bowling is all about tossing the ball up in the air, giving the ball revolutions and trying to spin the ball. As Bishen Bedi said when I first met him: ‘Who is a spinner? A spinner spins the ball or at least tries to spin the ball.’ A spinner learns through hard work and patience.’
For me the biggest worry is that youngsters want to play IPL (T20) or one-day cricket, not four-day cricket. That is not helping the skill sets. When it comes to four-day or five-day cricket, a spinner has to earn a wicket or get a wicket on even good surfaces. A spinner has to have the heart to toss the ball and be ready to be hit for few fours or sixes. That is when a spinner gets a wicket. But many of the spinners are doing the restricting job.
On the need for more spinner-friendly tracks
There has been talk of minimum of four or five ‘mm’ of grass on the wicket. My feeling is that it is knee-jerk reaction to 0-8 loss to England and Australia. My simple answer is that every country has its own strengths. In India, there is a different soil culture. If England and Australia do badly in sub-continent, do they play County or Shield cricket on turners? They don’t.
The curators don’t change the way the cricket is played. I don’t think preparing green tracks is the answer. Sadly, down the line, the art of spin playing will die down. Cricket is not only about playing seam and fast bowling, the batsmen need to have the skills to play against the spinners. These days, on the fourth day, the wicket doesn’t change the way it should. What is happening now, on a green wicket, after the first team bats and when the team batting second uses the heavy roller, it just evens out and there is no foot marks. The spinners have nothing to play with.
On spinning tracks in the country in the past
The wickets have always been docile in India. But the public assumption is that we have spinning tracks. They think there are only turning tracks in India. But on the contrary, it is not. In India, we can prepare turning tracks by simply leaving the wicket unattended and it is going to spin.
On pace bowlers taking more wickets this Ranji season
The spinners have not bowled enough this season. I have hardly bowled any. It is mostly bowled by the seamers. So naturally, they are the top wicket-takers. Most of the matches have been played on green tops.
On England spinners outplaying Indians
It is fine to prepare spinning tracks against New Zealand because they play spin differently. But England were better and they had two of the world’s best spinners in Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar. Even on English wickets, these spinners get wickets by bowling quickly through the air and trying to spin the ball. I had told before the series, the English spinners will be dangerous. I was surprised when Monty did not play the first Test.
On his future plans
I would like to help the Indian spinners. This is my 19th season. I have been out of the Indian team since 2008 but the reason I’m still playing is that I’m bowling as well as I can. For me, the simple thing as long as the ball is coming out nicely, I will continue to play.