Is there a dearth of quality spinners in world cricket today? This question has been doing the rounds for a long time searching for a clear-cut answer. However, the answer is very much evident as the cricketing arena is currently bereft of spinners of the quality of Shane Warne, Muthiah Muralidharan, Saqlain Mushtaq or Anil Kumble. These days, the game has an army of slow bowlers who are quite content with being economical than the ones in the past who plotted the dismissal of the batters with the variety at disposal. Blame it on the advent of the T-20 cricket and new rules in modern-day cricket, these have has rendered it tough for spinners to work on a batsman’s strengths and weaknesses, it is very hard to find the slow bowlers in the current scenario who can recite poetries with red or white balls in their hands like Warne or Muralidharan or Saqlain.
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Saeed Ajmal, who got banned temporarily for his bowling action, feels spinners have been given a raw deal by the cricketing body and for the same reason the art is dying today. “ Modern-day cricket has become a game that has been designed for batsmen. Spinners are penalised for their bowling actions but look at the size of cricket bats these days, they are like tree trunks. Also, look at the power-play rules and the relevant field settings. Fast bowlers have been given two bouncers an over, but what concessions have the spinners been given?” Yes, the off-spinner is right in many ways as the cricket of today is made more suitable for batsmen at the expense of bowlers, especially spinners.
Shane Warne, unarguably the finest leg spinner world of cricket has ever seen, also lamented the dearth of quality spinners in Australia. “Luckily we have such a quality spinner in Lyon, he’s done so well in all conditions around the world, held that attack together, but if something happened to him it would be a real issue,” said the Oz legend. Actually, this is not the case with Australia or any particular country, it is a universal problem. In none of the cricketing nations, there are new spinners to take over from the current crop. Take the case of India, both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are in their thirties still India is unsure from where the new breed of spinners will come from. The situation is even more critical for England as they are yet to find tweakers who could fill the voids left by Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar.
Everyone would agree with the fact that the contemporary style of cricket is slightly tilted in favour of the batsmen as the games’ administrators feel the crowd would only come if they are treated with a carnival of big hits. This is debatable but does it make sense to alter the level playing field. A batsman can play a switch shot or shuffle across the crease to upset the rhythm of the bowlers but the latter, especially spin, have no such leeways, quickies at least have the weapon of bouncers. Even the rules of present-day cricket with regard to fielders are punishing for bowlers, especially spinners. In ODI, only four fielders are allowed outside the 30 yards and during the power plays the number comes down to three. These rules force spin bowlers to go for containment rather than getting hit as every run saved is sacred in the shorter formats. Also, the rule allowing two new balls, one from each end, makes it difficult for the finger spinners to grip the ball to give it a nice tweak. In these circumstances, it is very tough for spinners to resort to any kind of craft that made the game of cricket riveting and a battle of equals in the past.
Hence, it goes without saying that the ICC needs to do something to arrest the rapid fall in the quality of spin bowling. Everyone comes to the stadium to witness an even contest between bat and ball rather than a one-sided affair which has become the norm today. Cricket in the past used to be a clash between the best of the bowlers or the batsmen: Warne VS Tendulkar, Muralidharan VS Steve Waugh or Saqlain VS Hayden etc. Sadly, world cricket is bereft of these mouth-watering rivalries on the field today. So, it is time to lend some balance to the game by eliminating some anti-bowler rules and create a condition conducive for spinners to ply their wares without any worries.
