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Tide is turning, India no longer adept at tackling spin at home
KOLKATA: “If you play with three frontline spinners at home and one pacer, it probably does the job for you.” Sitting halfway across the world in Port of Spain with
KOLKATA: “If you play with three frontline spinners at home and one pacer, it probably does the job for you.” Sitting halfway across the world in Port of Spain with over a month to go, India captain Virat Kohli was sure how he would want to welcome visitors in the much-touted home season. 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 — playing on turning pitches at home. Home advantage is a foolproof policy championed by many Indian captains. Pitches during Kohli’s captaincy too are unlikely to see much alteration. But at the same time, India may need to take some cautious steps to counter the growing ability of visiting teams, especially from outside Asia, to take wickets through spin. Traditionally the best players of spin, India’s image has been hit in the last few years.
RISING SPINNERS
From 2001 to 2006 (see box), two of the top five wicket-takers in India were spinners. In the next five-year period that went up to three while in the last five years, four of the top five wicket-takers were spinners. In the last five years, India have conceded seven five-wicket hauls to visiting spinners. Only thrice did visiting spinners take five-wicket hauls in India between 2006 and 2011. One of them was Australia off-spinner Jason Krejza, who shook India with 12 wickets, eight of them in the first innings, on debut in the farewell match of Sourav Ganguly in Nagpur in 2008, which the hosts won easily. But Krejza played just one more Test.
Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell Test series in 2013 will also be remembered for the two fifers spinner Shane Shillingford took, the only mentionable gains for West Indies in two abject surrenders. He conceded more than 150 runs in both innings --- India batted only once each — but significantly got four of the top five batsmen in both Tests. That wasn’t good advertisement for the best players of spin.
CHANGING PITCHES
When asked about India’s susceptibility to spin at home, former Australia pace great Glenn McGrath pointed out a number of reasons. “These days the domestic 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 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 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 as Indian batsmen went after him to set a target.
AUSTRALIAN PLANS
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 surprises then that Australia are already plotting to bring a likely 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 79 in their World T20 opener earlier this year. England, due to tour India in November, may not have Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann anymore but Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid may not be pushovers. They will fancy their chances against India in India.
