Indian cricket has celebrated the emergence of a powerful rapid bowling unit, but it’s high time the establishment focused on producing quality test spinners, particularly off-break bowlers, who feel like former players.
Ravichandran Ashwin (365 wickets in 71 tests) was an impact bowler in home conditions but the current team management did not put full trust in the abilities of Tamil Nadu tweaker in overseas conditions.
While former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh feels a break should be given to experienced domestic performers like Akshay Wakhare (34 years) and Jalaj Saxena (33 years), another veteran Laxman Sivaramakrishnan believes a younger pool needs to be established as Ashwin still has “solid three years of Test cricket left in him.”
“Ashwin is a very hardworking bowler and hasn’t taken his spot for granted. He’s still three good years left and now it’s time for us to find the next batch of young spinners ready to take over when the time comes,” Sivaramakrishnan told a leading media house.
But Harbhajan Has A Different Idea:
“I haven’t seen a good offspinner at the Ranji level. That’s because of bad captaincy at the Ranji Trophy level. When a right-handed off-spinner gets hit, the captain takes him off and the damage is morale.”
Harbhajan Singh became a major bowler because the captain was Sourav Ganguly, who gave him encouragement, “said Sivaramakrishnan, the Benson & Hedges Cup hero in 1985.
Siva Does Have Sympathy For Saxena Though:
“Jalaj’s is a classic case of his career that coincides absolutely with Ashwin’s best years. But right now we can’t look at players who are 33 or 34 years old. Because by the time another three years go by, the fitness rates could be a concern” said Ravi Shastri.
“We had a phase in which we only wanted wrist spinners at the highest level. So at the junior level (U-16 and U-19), boys began to feel what it is like to be an off-spinner, but I agree with Harbhajan that Wakhare or Jalraj could be tried in future” added Shashtri.
