Spinners will benefit from the brains and experience of Kumble: Sunil Joshi
Oct 24, 2016 at 11:38 AM
Former Indian spinner Sunil Joshi has said that the in-from Indian spinners – R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are only going to get better under head coach Anil Kumble.
Ashwin and Jadeja have wreaked havoc on opposition batsmen in Tests in the last couple of yers and have become a very important part of the Test team. Joshi, who played alongside Kumble during his playing days, said that not only the two spinners but other spinners will also benefit from India’s most successful bowler.
“Ashwin is a smart cricketer. And he’s only going to improve under the guidance of Anil Kumble. Not only him, all spinners will benefit from the brains and experience of Kumble. There’s no better person than him to guide them at this moment,” Joshi told Cricbuzz.
The rise of T20 cricket has spin bowlers resorting to various variations in order to stop the batsmen and one of the major changes has been the spinners’ depending more on flatter trajectory deliveries rather than fighting the balls.
Speaking on that, Joshi said“It all depends on the need of the hour.In T20 cricket, it is to restrict runs and bowl more dot balls.So it is quite understandable that bowlers bowl much flatter these days. But if you look at someone like Jadeja, he bowls slower in Tests compared to limited overs.”
And the former spinner believes that the new trend will not affect the spinners’ skills.
“I don’t think playing T20s affect a bowler’s skills in a negative way. By playing more matches, bowlers learn to adapt to different formats. If flighting the ball is one’s strength, it doesn’t change whether he’s playing Tests, One-day or T20s,” Joshi said.
India has always been a powerhouse when it comes to producing quality spinners. However, the 46-year old admitted that there is a shortage of spinners at the junior level right now.
“There’s a shortage of spin bowlers in domestic cricket. But things are bound to improve. It helps that at the NCA, we have Narendra Hirwani as a coach.And at the grassroots level, we need to find youngsters with talent and work on them throughout the year,” said Joshi.