Leg-Spin: An art in hibernation, extinct or dying?

Not long ago, at least it does not seem long ago, that Test Cricket was ruled by three spinners. Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble. Spin as an art had encompassed the world and was not just limited to the sub-continent. With the three legends of the game in action and a wee bit of new talent coming up there was hope but now all has been vanquished. With Harbhajan Singh and Graham Swann championing the cause of off-spin after the retirement of Murali there is still some little space occupied by off-spin but the depth is no more there.

However, when you look at the last two years of action, there is not a single quality leg-spinner in the world. The situation is so bad that the Australians are calling out loud for Shane Warne’s return (yea, like that’s possible!) whereas India have started drawing on their pace battery for the bulk of the wickets. So has the art of leg spin become extinct?

Shane Warne: Insurmountable?

The extinction of such an art is perhaps not possible after the world has seen legends like Richie Benaud, Mushtaq Ahmad, Abdul Qadir, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble among others. Without leg-spinners there will be an eternal void in the heart of the joy that Test Cricket provides to its ardent fans. Without leg-spin the world simply can’t do.

So is it in hibernation? Are we just facing a lean patch where no one practitioner is mature enough to take the world stage. For it is a known fact that leg-spinners take time to learn the trade and leg-spin is not a piece of pie. For case studies are Stuart McGill, the Australian leg-spinner who lived out his career in the shadow of Shane Warne and when played in his absence was smashed all around the park. Then there is Danish Kaneria whose better than average record on paper told of potential but his effectiveness against quality opposition has never been proved. Now at age thirty, there is little we can expect from him. Is new talent round the corner? There is a buzz around the name of Tahir Imran but that is more because of his controversial move to South Africa being stalled by Pakistan. The world is yet to see of him.

Danish Kaneria: Potential splittered

Then it must be an art that is dying? Is there no talent which aspires in making and breaking the piles of records of the above mentioned legends of the game? No, again.

Leg-spin as an art is so attractive to the new generation that many take it up when they first start playing cricket. However, the problem is that it in its nature needs a bit more nourishment, a bit more of nurturing than other arts to propel it to a level where he can make it to the world stage.

The other reason for the near-death experience that the art might be going through is the emergence of a new art propagated by Ajantha Mendis. Another proponent of which is India’s R. Ashwin. The new art which has a mix of both off-spin and leg-spin makes use of the bowler’s fingers in a very peculiar way. However, for a purist like me, it makes no sense. The carrom ball about which the world has gone gaga is nothing as compared to the odd one googly that leaves a leg-spinners hand disguised among many squaring leg-breakers.

The conclusion to which I will have to come to, after debating on all sides of the question whether the art is in hibernation, extinct or dying is that: it is an art that is lost. This lost art needs some recovering. The people who are nurturing the game at the grass-root level must make this a priority. Long time back when we had a crisis with India’s pace battery we opened up the MRF Academy, maybe its time for somebody to take care of this lost art.

Final Reads : 135 : Pts 1/10

Editorial Score : Pts 8/10

Total Pts : 9/20