India don’t have a wristspinner in their squad for the ongoing tour of Australia and it’s a call that has come as a surprise to the legendary captain Allan Border. In their original squad for the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy that got underway last month, India had three specialist spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar.
With the retirement of Ashwin earlier this week and a replacement unlikely, India are now left with two spinners for the remainder of the tour.
Border, who captained Australia in 92 Tests, thinks that India could have included either Kuldeep Yadav or Yuzvendra Chahal in their squad for the tour.
He reckons that the impact the late Shane Warne had on legspin bowling somehow plays on the minds of modern-day captains who expect their own practitioners of the craft to emulate the Australian legend.
For the record, Kuldeep has been given time-off by the BCCI to deal with a longstanding groin issue while Chahal isn’t part of India’s Test setup.
“I’m surprised India haven’t brought (Yuzvendra) Chahal or Kuldeep Yadav. It’s hard to develop a leg-spinner. A Shane Warne doesn’t come along every day. I don’t think captains use leg-spinners very well,” Border was quoted as saying by SRK Nation.
Border feels that since legspinners are more prone to deliver loose deliveries, captain’s end up being defensive.
“They (the captains) want them to be like Warne, crowding men around the bat, on the attack. I see captains bring on a leggie and they’ve got bat-pad, two slips and a gully. Captains are very defensive. They need to realise it’s going to take a while for a young leg-spinner to develop. You need to give him protection. He’s going to bowl one half-tracker or a full toss. They don’t necessarily get blokes out bat-pad or caught at slip. You’ve got to have the captaincy to bring the best out of a leggie,” Border explained.
Border said Warne was a different gravy and hence the unprecedented success he enjoyed despite being a legspinner which also explains how tough an art it is to master.
“Finger spinners are tighter. It’s a containment thing, and then you wait for the batsmen to get themselves out. Whereas with the leggie, the tendency is to be a bit loose. Warney was different because he was very accurate and could spin the ball. That just shows how hard that art is to master,” he said.
Like
Comment
Send
Share
