A levelled field

A levelled field

Skill asymmetry (असममिति) determined India’s preference for laying turners at home. Is that a thing of the past?
Comparing sportsmen across generations is always a fraught (Figuratively- भारयुक्त) exercise, yet it is tempting to wonder if the current crop of Indian batsmen measure up to their forebears from another millennium as far as one department of the game is concerned — the ability to tackle spin.
There’s this apocryphal (संदिग्ध प्रामाणिक) story of the legendary Pakistani leggie Abdul Qadir being particularly riled (चिढ़ा हुआ होना) one hot midsummer day during a Test being played in the ’80s. Reason? Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar were at the crease, and every time Qadir would rip out his wrong ’un, the batsman at the non-striking end would call it aloud for the other’s benefit even as the delivery had just left the fingers and commenced on its flight path.
Death by dust
Batting mainstays (मुख्य आधार होना) of the time raised the business of smothering (to stop or prevent the growth or activity of) the spin, playing with the turn or against it to an art. India’s successes abroad were too few and far between but its reputation as the last frontier for other cricketing nations to conquer was built on the edifice of preparing turners with the bench strength to exploit and negotiate them. From the 1-0 loss against Pakistan in 1986-87 to 1999-2000 when it lost both Tests against South Africa, India kept its series slate clean at home. And in three passages through this side of the subcontinent, Shane Warne, arguably the greatest spinner of all time, could only notch 34 scalps from nine Tests at an average of 43.11. This, when four Tests in Pakistan yielded a rich haul of 26 wickets.
Cut to the latter half of the 2000s, and we have had to suffer the ignominy (अप्रतिष्ठा/अपकीर्ति) of horrors such as Jason Krejza, who would go on to play only one more Test in his career, finishing with match figures of 12-358 on debut for Australia at Nagpur in 2008. Four years later, the humiliation (मानहानि) doubled as Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann spun England to a 2-1 series win.
An inspired fightback at Bengaluru allowed the team to level the honours in the ongoing series against Australia, and it’s Advantage India as the action moves to Ranchi next. But as the likes of Stephen O’Keefe, who recorded the best match figures ever by a visiting spinner in India in the Pune Test, and Nathan Lyon, whose eight-for at Bengaluru is his third seven-plus haul against India and the best in an innings by any visiting bowler in India, slice through the Indian order with ease, it is evident that while increased exposure overseas has resulted in a greater felicity (intense happiness.) with the horizontal-bat shots, the art of presenting a dead bat is a dying one. It doesn’t take the eagle eye of Gavaskar or the wristiness (adept use of wrists) of Mohammad Azharuddin and V.V.S. Laxman to negate (बेअसर करना) spin. Asked once whether it was the tweaker’s fingers or the red cherry’s revolutions that he took cue from, the West Indian great Gary Sobers revealed an elaborate game plan: “I play the ball whichever way it goes after pitching.” Keep it simple, Team India.