HYDERABAD: Blame it on the proliferation of seamer-friendly wickets in the domestic circuit and T20 cricket. The spinners’ role has been drastically reduced and has, in turn, made India’s batsmen leaden-footed against them. Their recent meltdowns against England off-spinner Moeen Ali is a glaring example.
The trend of preparing seaming tracks began in the late 90s. This naturally pushed spinners to the background and resulted in their steady decline.
Former cricketer VVS Laxman, a proficient player of spin, endorses a fine balance between seaming and spinning tracks. “India’s batsmen often struggled outside the subcontinent on green wickets. So it was decided to prepare a few green wickets in domestic cricket. In a way, it helped them to improve their technique against fast bowlers. But we have to find the right balance while preparing a good wicket, which could give assistance to both the fast bowlers and the spinners,” he said.
Against Ali, Laxman advises India’s batsmen to strike a note between attack and defence. “He is a decent spinner but not threatening enough to emerge as the best bowler. It may be due to complacency at the start, and then the pressure, that has seen the batsmen succumb. They have to find the right balance between attack and defence,’’ he said.
Moreover, T20- cricket has limited batmen’s exposure to quality spinners. “Sometimes, the T20 style has affected their (spinners) performance in Tests. With most of the teams preferring fast bowlers, spinners’ role has come down. This has resulted in batsmen not getting the opportunity to play against quality spinners.’’
Former spinner Venkatapathy Raju attributes the decline of spinners to a combination of factors. “First of all, the captains have more faith in fast bowlers, given the condition of the wicket. So spinners, whenever given a chance, are under pressure to perform,’’ he pointed out.
Hence, they sacrifice their flight to not concede runs. “The spinners hardly flight the ball in Tests. We gave the ball a lot of air and I think it was basically due to long net sessions and the willingness to play in local leagues to get match-fit before the season. It was a challenge to bowl as most of the Indians had lovely footwork and technique.’’
Facing quality spinners on turning tracks helped a lot of batsmen master them. “If someone like the great Shane Warne struggled against (Virender) Sehwag, (Rahul) Dravid, (Sachin) Tendulkar or Laxman, it was because they grew up playing high-quality spinners. Unfortunately, there are no top-class spinners in domestic cricket for the current batsmen to play and improve their technique.’’