Spin bowling- a dying art

Shane Warne of Australia bowls in his return match to cricket after serving a one-year ban

The Ashes Series of 1993. Shane Warne comes down and fires a delivery at Mike Gatting. The ball just drifts outside leg-stump and hits the off-stump. A shocked Gatting couldn’t believe what he saw. Neither did the viewers.

Indeed, it is considered as the ball of the century. This is one of the instances wherein a spinner weaves his magic and leaves everyone stunned. But the art of spinning is dying, especially after the retirement of the great Warne and Muralidharan.

Spinners are always a treat to watch, making the batsmen dance to their tunes. The Indian sub-continent, consisting mainly of turning pitches, was a land of legendary spinners. From the spin quartet under ‘Tiger’ Pataudi to Saqlain Mushtaq, all have made tremendous impact during their playing days. Even outside the sub-continent, genuine spinners were found, notably Lance Gibbs from West Indies, Jim Laker from England and the great Shane Warne. But today, after the retirement of Kumble, Murali and Warne, no spinner except for Graeme Swann and Vettori, has made much of an impact, even on spin-friendly pitches. Even in India, the quality of spinners has gone down.

Since Harbhajan’s dip in form, the selectors have failed to find a proper replacement. Pragyan Ojha, Ravi Ashwin and Piyush Chawla are playing musical chairs with the available slots. Same is the case in Sri Lanka too,with no notable replacement after the retirement of Muralidharan. One might ask why this is happening. In my opinion, the main reason for this would be introduction of too many variations in orthodox bowling.

Since the invention of the ‘doosra’ by Saqlain Mushtaq, many off- spinners have tried to master it, meanwhile losing their ability to spin the ball in a traditional way. The most famous example is Harbhajan Singh himself. Similarly, leg-spinners try the googly variation too much. The effect: In the recent series between India and Sri Lanka, the pitches were turned seamer-friendly instead. This is a clear indication that even Sri Lanka, a country known for its spinners, is facing a crisis on this area.

So what is the solution this problem? No one can provide an immediate solution, but still, a long-term goal can ensure a positive feedback. So where does one start? When a player is taught how to turn the ball, he must not be taught about any of the variations till he has mastered it. And it is the responsibility of the coach to guide the player, from the start, not to use too many unwanted variations.

One can only hope that the quality of spinners improve in the next ten to twenty years. Spinning is a dying art. If revived, it will be a genuine tribute to those legends, who have entertained the cricketing world whenever they had the ball in their hands.