`Spin to win' best bet against Aussies - but where are the spinners?
It does not need a deeply knowledgeable cricket follower to say that `spin to win' is the policy needed if India are to have any chances of success against the Australians in this country
Partab Ramchand
15-Feb-2001
It does not need a deeply knowledgeable cricket follower to say that `spin
to win' is the policy needed if India are to have any chances of success
against the Australians in this country. But if the ultimate proof is
needed, just one single statistical evidence would suffice. Kapil Dev, that
most outstanding of Indian medium pacers and a world record holder to boot,
finished wicketless in the entire three Test series against Australia in
1986/87 after bowling 45 overs and conceding 124 runs.
From 1956, when the Australians made their first official tour of India, to
the last encounter in 1998, it has been the bowlers who turn the ball
rather than those who hurtle it down at some pace who have held the key to
India's success. These include anyone who turns the ball, be it off spin,
leg spin or left arm spin.
The trend was set in the first series when that first great Indian spin
trio of Vinoo Mankad, Subash Gupte and Ghulam Ahmed took most of the
wickets in the three Test series. In fact, after the Australians had been
traumatised by Jim Laker in England earlier that year, the talk went around
that the visitors were weak against off spin and the selectors picked a
fourth spinner in Jasu Patel, who played two Tests with limited success.
But it was the leading off spinner of the day Ghulam Ahmed who was the most
successful, particularly with a match haul of ten for 130 in the final Test
at Calcutta.
Whether it was a fact that the Australians were susceptible to off breaks
or not, it was an off spinner who was the most destructive of the lot
during the 1959-60 series. Ghulam Ahmed had retired by then but the
Australians found Jasu Patel an ogre. Playing in three of the five Tests,
Patel took 19 wickets including a record haul of 14 for 124 to shape the
miracle at Kanpur. Bapu Nadkarni, a left arm spinner of pinpoint accuracy,
was also fairly successful. In the third Test at Bombay, he had innings
figures of six for 105 - five of them bowled.
Five years later, Nadkarni was even more successful scalping 17 in the
first two Tests before finishing wicketless in the limited opportunities he
got in the third and final Test. Another left arm spinner Salim Durrani and
leg spinner Bhagwat Chandrasekhar also played notable roles in India
finishing on level terms in the series.
By 1969-70, the concentration on spin had become almost total. And Erapalli
Prassana and Bishen Bedi did not disappoint. In five Tests, the two shared
47 wickets with Prasanna taking 26 and Bedi 21. Even S Venkatraghavan who
was underbowled took 12 wickets and the talk that Australians were
vulnerable to off spin became more vociferous. The bowling, heroic as it
was, could not cover up for shoddy batting and the series was lost by three
matches to one.
About the only exception to the well established theory that spin held the
key to an Indian victory over Australia at home was Kapil Dev's performance
in the 1979-80 series. The Indian pace spearhead, then in only his second
season of international cricket, took 28 wickets in the six Tests to head
the averages of 22.32. But here again he had to share the honours with spin
in the name of two `new boys' Dilip Doshi and Shivlal Yadav. The left arm
spinner, in six Tests, captured 27 wickets at 23.33 apiece and the off
spinner's share of the spoils in five Tests was 24 wickets at 24.04.
Whatever little damage to the Australian batting in the high scoring
1986-87 series was caused by Shivlal Yadav, Maninder Singh and Ravi
Shastri. Ten years later, in the one-off Test at New Delhi, 14 out of 19
wickets to fall to bowlers were taken by Anil Kumble, Venkatapathi Raju and
Aashish Kapoor as they shaped a seven wicket victory. And in the last
series, three years ago, Kumble was the kingpin of the spin attack taking
23 wickets in the three Tests at an average of 18.26 as India won the
series by two matches to one.
So there you are. `Spin to win' is the theory to follow when it comes to
whipping the Aussies at home. The problem this time is where are the
spinners to put the theory into practice?