Wanted: An off-spinner for India
Posted on Aug 07, 2008 by Scorpicity |For umpteen years India persisted with the lone off-spinner of Harbhajan Singh and for umpteen more years it looks to stay the same. To be fair, Harbhajan is a great spinner who has entertained us with his skill and won many matches for us. But as years have gone by, it looks to me that he has become a victim of his own reputation and often bowls to save his face from getting pummeled by the batsmen, rather than aggressively bowl to architect victories like in the past. That reputation to protect, that ego to quench often ends up with him bowling negatively or pointlessly to stop scoring off him. With that, he lost his original art of spin bowling which made him what he is today.
We like to harp forever on glorious past performances… it’s an Indian thing. The more I see Harbhajan off late the more I believe he is going the Danish Kaneria way. Picking wickets after bowling umpteen overs and conceding that many runs. Does it matter how many wickets one takes when the opposition scores over 500-600? That is the biggest criticism of Kaneria and Harbhajan is following suit.
When I watched him in Australia where he bowled fairly well, I was beginning to think that he was getting back on track but still far away from what he used to. The shockers came in the subsequent series at home where he looked as flat as a rookie. Sure he finally came up with a good performance in the recent second test against Sri Lanka to contribute towards a crucial win. But his consistency is alarmingly dwindling and this one good performance would seal his place for 20 more tests with pointless performances. In the process, how many will go by with very ordinary bowling.
The problem here is that there are none in the ranks to challenge him and push him. There is a complete lack of quality off-spinners in the country. We have an excellent leggie in Mishra and a fairly good spinner in Ojha, which again surprisingly the better of the two Mishra was not picked for this current Sri Lankan tour.
This is not a call to drop Harbhajan but to seriously start considering… if he can consistently bowl well, good for him and India. But looking at his dwindling consistency, India better quickly start looking out for the next off-spinner and start featuring him. Alternatively, they should consider dropping the idea of entertaining an off-spinner for the mere sake of variety and question whether it is contributing to a win. Why not feature two leg spinners then? I’m not convinced that variety in styles plays such an important role. It does when the quality is good… otherwise we might be better off featuring two quality leggies and my choice is Amit Mishra.
As of today Harbhajan is in his comfort zone, untouched and not at all debated and has learned the art of survival with these occasional good performance that keeps his plate warm. It is for everyone to realize that its getting colder by the day.
by Ottayan, on August 7 2008 @ 1:41 pm
I agree that Harbhajan should not be persisted with just because he is an off-spinner. This variety in bowling is becoming too predictable.
As you rightly point out it is better to have two leggies if they are capable of taking wickets instead one offie who cannot.
by Straight Point, on August 7 2008 @ 2:02 pm
while i agree most of things you have said and also on variety thing…when india can field all left arm pacer in a test…i dont see any reason why we cant on spinner front..
however i would like to state that on docile dead as dodo pitches which other spinner (indian or not) has run thru side? not even warne and murli (two best spinner) have good records in india on these flat pitches as against their career averages…
he was coming from long slapped layoff and once he found his rythem going he did looked different bowler…and i see that this existing combo of kirst
by Straight Point, on August 7 2008 @ 2:09 pm
while i agree most of things you have said and also on variety thing…when india can field all left arm pacer in a test…i dont see any reason why we cant on spinner front..
however i would like to state that on docile dead as dodo pitches which other spinner (indian or not) has run thru side? i cant see anyone…lets not getting carried away by one mendis…even he would struggle here…
not even warne and murli (two best spinner) have good records in india on these flat pitches as against their career averages…
he was coming from slapped layoff and once he found his rhythm going he did looked different bowler…
coz of late kumble neither keeping one end tight nor taking wicket…
to prove a point…if you have seen second innings of last test match you would have noticed that when kumble and bhaji were bowling in tandom samarweera and dilshan looked like taking game away for a while…and once kumble decided to take himself off and brought ishant…runs started to dry up and both ishant and hb got wickets…
i bet rather than kumble ojha/mishra combo bhajji ojha/mishra combo will work far better…
by Straight Point, on August 7 2008 @ 2:10 pm
sorry i accidentally hit submit button
by Soulberry, on August 7 2008 @ 2:50 pm
Looks like we may have SLA’s instead…Ojha and Abdulla.
The best leggie in India (Misra) is nowhere in contention for anything, and as you say, we haven’t an offie on the horizon.
But there are some juniors bowling off and I don’t like their action.
by scorpicity, on August 8 2008 @ 7:13 am
Otts… that certainly is something India may not do… but they should start considering.
by scorpicity, on August 8 2008 @ 7:42 am
Good point Pan… He bowled very well in the second test and that should definitely warrant a place in the side. But there are these signs of him not being too potent and it may just be required that we have someone else waiting in line. The alarm here is that there is none and a huge void. He is India’s strike bowler and so you cannot have some regular spinner in but someone who can do the job of being the strike.
by scorpicity, on August 8 2008 @ 7:43 am
Yeah Soulberry… the best leggie in this country doesn’t find a place in the side…sad
by Soulberry, on August 8 2008 @ 5:45 pm
Awright Scorpi…let’s hear it from you….the fab four are on the table for discussion.
by scorpicity, on August 8 2008 @ 8:28 pm
Soulberry… i will only have Dravid under the scanner… the rest can have the benefit of a bad phase. More specifically, Mendis is incredibly good.
by ankit, on August 9 2008 @ 11:36 pm
we have three able spinners in line, in chawla, ojha and mishra, but we are so used to keeping up with the tradition and not making changes to our existing line-up that we will keep another non-performing asset in the form of harbhajan in the team.
by Naked Cricket, on August 10 2008 @ 12:32 am
scorpi - aside: beyond mendis’ mysteries, there’s one aspect of his bowling that struck me - he attacks the wickets. Bhajji appears to attack Dravid or whoever is standing at first slip.
Bhajji could’ve been a grt, sure, but he has to grapple with himself and his many Gunthers. He is MSD’s T20 golden boy. Make that an untouchable in Ind cricket. And even after slapgate, everyone, inc Jumbo, had to pitch in for him. Doubt Sreenath will be back anytime soon. Maybe next IPL.
by scorpicity, on August 10 2008 @ 9:46 am
Hi Ankit… this is a traditional policy change… going with two leggies… We need to open a debate on its merit.
by scorpicity, on August 10 2008 @ 9:48 am
Exactly NC… bingo… all that talk about his mysterious action is just one small aspect… he is on the stumps all the time… brilliant. On the other hand, harbhjan annoys me with his line. Becoming redundant and so damm predictable.
by Wasim, on August 10 2008 @ 9:58 am
Any Off spinner these days without an effective doosra is a useless commodity, a gamble, a risk, or a Shoaib Malik.
Two wrongs do not make a right so I would not agree with the notion of playing two leggies just for the sake of it, how many wickets did Kumble took so far in the series?
A legspin and Off spin combination is the best option they should try and find new talent. Misra has been really unfortunate not to be in the team.
by ankit, on August 10 2008 @ 10:26 am
bhajji’s real strength lies in stopping the runs by bowling at the 4-5th stump on the off, or as you said to the man at the slip, which makes him so important for MSD in T20 and to some extent in ODI’s.
i fail to understand how stopping runs in test matches is this important to bhajji.
Scorpicity,
i agree having two leggies in the same team, will be indigestion to the selection and team management, but for the sake of understudying, mishra should be given a chance along with kumble to be a part of the test team.
by scorpicity, on August 10 2008 @ 7:07 pm
Wasim… unfortunately, there is no quality offie in the waiting for India. A big worry… couple of good leggies are available though. Am not all impressed with Harby’s bowling… in the sense, we have been waiting and waiting and see the same old garbage been thrown at. The strike rates are miserable. Might as well try out some of the other quality bowlers and see if the variety myth holds.
With regard to Kumble, this is perhaps the few times I have seen really bowl pretty ordinarily in tests. For someone, who has almost been the single-handed clear match winner for India for this long and in virtually almost every Indian win, it is fair to give him a far significant rope.
by scorpicity, on August 10 2008 @ 7:10 pm
Ankit… that is the point of him being sucked up onto his reputation and ego and doesn’t like being hit and it has stuck on. At the end of the day, he is India’s strike bowler who has to bowl aggressively picking runs… conceding some runs in the process is ok.
Yup… maybe they ought to test out mishra… but then he isn’t being picked… ojha for some strange reason is.
by Soulberry, on August 11 2008 @ 1:20 am
Two leggies could work with Bhajji also in the mix. If Chawla isn’t the other leggie, whovere is the second leggie will be a very different kind of bowler compared to Kumble….so that isn’t the problem.
Kumble is obviously bringing his career to a close…let’s not expect him to be the rampaging Kumble of the early 90’s. mendis today is something like what Kumble was to the world back then.
by scorpicity, on August 11 2008 @ 6:07 pm
Soulberry… been a long time since I saw Kumble being this useless in a complete test series :(.
by Commonfan, on August 12 2008 @ 7:47 am
I am all for Mishra. why dont we just play the two best spinners around. Variety is important but we dont have the guys to provide meaningful variety. And even if they are both listed as leg spinners, we know that they are totally different. Mishra showed great heart and thats what we need.
by scorpicity, on August 12 2008 @ 4:54 pm
Totally agree Avnish… if harby is found wanting, might as well play two of the best spinners around if it was a leggie… though one has to be a Mishra and not a Ojha