At home, spin is no longer the biggest advantage for Indian cricket team

In the last five years, India have conceded seven five-wicket hauls to spinners of visiting teams. In comparison, only thrice did visiting spinners take five-wicket hauls in India between 2006 and 2011.

“If you play with three frontline spinners at home and one pacer, it probably does the job for you.” Sitting halfway around the world in Port of Spain with over a month to go, India captain Virat Kohli was sure about how he would want to welcome visitors in the much touted home season.

Traditionally called the best players of spin, India’s image has taken some beating over the last few years. (Reuters Photo)

A washout didn’t allow Kohli to take down notes on how the team adjusted to the combination of six specialist batsmen and four bowlers against West Indies but the intention is clear --- Kohli is preparing to play on turning pitches at home.

Home advantage is a fool proof policy championed by many Indian captains till date. Pitches during Kohli’s captaincy won’t witness much alteration as well. But what India may need to take some caution against at the same time is the growing ability of visiting teams, especially from outside Asia, to take wickets through spinners. Traditionally called the best players of spin, India’s image has taken some beating over the last few years.

From 2001 to 2006, (see box) two of the top five wicket-takers in India were spinners. In the next five-year period that increased to three while in the subsequent five-year period, four out of the top five wicket-takers were spinners. In the last five years, India have conceded seven five-wicket hauls to spinners of visiting teams. In comparison, only thrice did visiting spinners take five-wicket hauls in India between 2006 and 2011. One of them was Jason Krejza, the off-spinner who stunned India with 12 wickets on debut in the farewell match of Sourav Ganguly in Nagpur in 2008. Krejza went on to play just one more Test in his life.

Another farewell series, that of Sachin Tendulkar in 2013, would also be remembered because of the haul of Shane Shillingford whose two fifers were the only mentionable gains for West Indies in two abject surrenders. He had conceded more than 150 runs in both innings but significantly, Shillingford also dismissed four out of the top five batsmen in both Tests. That wasn’t good advertisement for the best players of spin at home.

When asked about India’s susceptibility to spinners at home, former Australian pacer Glenn McGrath pointed out a number of reasons in a nutshell. “These days the domestic cricket pitches here have changed to help more fast bowlers come through the ranks. A lot of academies too are focusing on fast bowlers now. Also, nowadays more batsmen are attacking spinners. That explains the success of spinners,” he said.

India’s is a curious case now where pitches in the domestic season have been changed to help more fast bowlers come through and prepare batsmen for the overseas grind. But when it comes to international matches at home, India again tend to fall back on turners.

The natural ability to play off their legs and supple wrists keep batsmen going against spinners but their defensive technique has gone down a fair bit. It was evident in the third Test against South Africa in Nagpur last year when Imran Tahir bagged a fifer when India’s batsmen tried to go after him while setting a target for the visitors.

The results have been encouraging for spinners. They might get the occasional stick but the probability of getting more wickets will keep teams in the hunt. No surprise then that Australia are already plotting to take a spin quartet of Adam Zampa, Fawad Ahmed, Ashton Agar and Mitchell Swepson to India next year.

New Zealand, who play India from this month, might rely heavily on Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner. Both had famously taken seven wickets between themselves to shoot out India for just 79 in their World T20 opener earlier this year.

England, scheduled to visit India in November, may not have Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann anymore but Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid are coming up the ranks quickly. They aren’t world beaters yet but against India in India, they might start fancying their chances.