Kumble believes India have a lot of choice when it comes to spin bowling
India spin legend Anil Kumble has announced that the current team have no problems in their spin department, despite what some cricket pundits may say.
The Indian team recently added veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh back into the national side, along with part-time spinner Yuvraj Singh, who recently recovered from a rare form of lung cancer.
Young spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha have been extremely impressive in the past couple of months, and in the recent New Zealand Test series, they were pretty much the main reason why India ripped through the Black Cap’s batting lineup with relative ease.
Kumble also mentioned that India have a lot of spinners to choose from, such as Amit Mishra, Rahul Sharma and Piyush Chawla, if one of their regulars fails to perform or sustains an injury.
“You’ll never know the real calibre of a spinner if you don’t give him enough opportunities. Right now the spin cupboard is pretty healthy because there are two spinners (Ashwin and Ojha) who are performing on the field, there’s Harbhajan who has the experience of picking 400 Test wickets and who’s a highly fierce competitor and exceptionally skilled. When he comes back to being his best, you’ll have three quality spinners in the side plus the three leg-spinners waiting in the wings,” Kumble said.
Having been out of the national side for about a year since making his return at the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Twenty20, Harbhajan Singh proved that he still had something to offer the team, especially in the match against England, where he took four wickets while giving away just 12 runs.
“He’s been exceptional. He lost a little bit of confidence and the only way to regain it is to be part of the team and play more and more matches. He’s done that before and I see no reason why he cannot perform again. I certainly feel that Bhajji is still one of the best spinners that we have in India and it’s just a matter of time before he comes back to bowling at his best,” Kumble said.
Kumble also believes that Harbhajan should not be blamed about the number of wickets he has taken in the past couple of series.
“I don’t think he’s done badly at Test level. It’s just that he’s played a lot of matches outside of India. Not always is a spinner an attacking option when you go outside of India. His role changes, especially in the first innings. Yes, he’s had mixed performances in the one-day game. He hasn’t lived up to the high standards he’s set for himself and hence people think that he’s underperforming,” Kumble added.
Talking about Ashwin, Kumble noted that he was still young and that if he keeps bowling the way he is, then he will have a very successful international career.
“He’s not scared to try out different deliveries in a match. He knows how to set up a batsman, which I think is the key for any bowler. He has the wicket-taking ability. Nobody thought Ashwin will be successful in Tests. Everyone looked at him as a limited-overs specialist. They also looked at me as a one-day bowler. But I proved them wrong and Ashwin is on track to doing so, with his recent Man of the Series performance against the Kiwis,” Kumble said.
In terms of Ojha, Kumble stated that he was a great bowling partner for Ashwin, but still needed to improve in some areas.
“He needs to work a bit on his arm-ball. He has it in him but he hasn’t picked too many wickets with the arm-ball. So, that’s something he can work on. He’s a young spinner and the more opportunities he gets, the more he’ll learn. Ojha is also a very able partner to Ashwin. They hunt as a pair – one guy keeps one end tied up and the other picks up the wickets. They complement each other really well,” Kumble explained.
Kumble also noted that spinners like Mishra, Sharma and Chawla were more suited to Test cricket.
“I believe they should get more opportunities because leg-spinners need more time to settle down. They will be slightly more expensive than the other spinners because it’s not easy to bowl leg-spin consistently in one area. The good thing is that all three are very different, which gives the team a lot of variety. Mishra is a classical leg-spinner. Piyush relies more on his quickish googlies and top-spinners. Rahul is a bit more steady; a bit more like me. He bowls quicker through the air, bowls line and length and takes his wickets more on bounce and pace. All three are suited for the longest format,” Kumble added.