While the Indian pacers are dominating the present world cricket, the Indian spinners once played the major roles for the team in international cricket. Recently, the former and veteran Indian spinners have talked about the 33-year-old off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and the future of India’s spin bowling.
After the off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has moved out from the international cricket, Ravichandran Ashwin has handled the responsibility to maintain India’s rich spin bowling domination. There is no doubt about Ashwin’s spin bowling skills. However, the former no.1-ranked Test bowler Ashwin hasn’t achieved huge success outside the Asian soil, while he is always a master on the Asian soil. At present, he is only getting the opportunity in Test cricket.
Former leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan believes that the hard-working bowler Ashwin still can maintain his place in the national team. However, he also talks about the importance to find out the next generation of Indian spin bowling.
Sivaramakrishnan claimed according to PTI, “Ashwin is a very hard-working bowler and he has not taken his place for granted. He still has three good years left and it’s time now that we find the next crop of young spinners which is ready to take over when time comes.”
While the Indian team is now facing the lack of good off-spinner, Sivaramakrishnan has blamed the poor captaincy skills in domestic cricket.
He added, “I haven’t seen a good off-spinner at the Ranji level. That’s because of bad captaincy at the Ranji Trophy level. If an off-spinner gets hit by a right-hander, captains take him off and that hits his confidence. Harbhajan Singh became a great bowler because the captain was Sourav Ganguly, who gave him encouragement.”
Laxman Sivaramakrishnan talked about the present top Indian domestic spinners
Sivaramakrishnan praised uncapped off-spinner Jalaj Saxena but feels that it is too late for him to enter in the international cricket arena.
The former leg-spinner said, “Jalaj’s is a classic case of his career completely coinciding with Ashwin’s best years. But right now we can’t look at players who are 33 or 34 years. Because by the time another three years go by, the fitness levels might be an issue.”
Sivaramakrishnan also feels that the off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham is not good enough for Test cricket but good for other formats. He also took the names of other spinners who have the potential.
Sivaramakrishnan said, “He is good but I don’t think good enough for Test cricket.
“We need a new set of good spinners (all types) at the India A level, who should be ready in the next three years. Rahul Chahar is very young but again, he is more of a white-ball bowler. Shahbaz Nadeem is 30 plus and Yuzvendra Chahal is in his late 20s.”
Harbhajan Singh and Rajesh Chauhan also gave their views
On the other hand, veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh believes that the 33-year-old off-spinner Jalaj Saxena and the 34-year-old off-spinner Akshay Wakhare deserves some opportunities. Harbhajan feels that age shouldn’t be a barrier for them.
Harbhajan quoted, “Jalaj Saxena and Akshay Wakhare have performed year after year at the domestic level, at times on flat tracks. I have seen Akshay closely at the Mumbai Indians nets. Age for me is just a number. I don’t believe these two can’t be tried.”
Meanwhile, another former Indian off-spinner Rajesh Chauhan praised Ravichandran Ashwin but also pointed out that the offie didn’t know his wicket-taking delivery.
Talking about Jalaj Saxena, Chauhan feels that he is an all-rounder rather than a specialist off-spinner.
Chauhan said, “Ashwin is a class bowler but with so much variations, he at times doesn’t know what is his wicket-taking delivery. About Jalaj, I don’t think he is a specialist off-spinner. He is more of an all-rounder.”