India have picked their tried-and-tested spin quartet of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel for the first Test match against Bangladesh next week.
The performance of the current India Test spin attack often passes under the radar. At times they are overshadowed by the pace attack, the best in their history, and at times by the batters – the nation seldom makes superstars out of batters. And amidst all this, looms the shadows of the giants of the past – a lineage of spinners of various specialisations, from Palwankar Baloo to Harbhajan Singh.
There is little doubt that the current batch is just as good, but it is important to understand exactly how good they are.
R Ashwin has 516 Test wickets at 23.75. Of spinners with 300 scalps, only Muttiah Muralidaran has a better average.
Ravindra Jadeja has 294 wickets at 24.13. Of left-arm spinners with 150 wickets, no one has a better average. Reduce the cut-off to fifty wickets, and the left-arm spinners with the best bowling average since 1960 are Axar Patel (55 at 19.34) and Kuldeep Yadav (53 at 21.05), bowlers of contrasting genres.
They are that good. And three of them are bona-fide all-rounders. Let alone in Indian cricket, almost never has the world seen four spinners of such class assemble for the same Test side. Two, yes, perhaps even three, but never four. In the last hundred years, perhaps only England in the 1950s (Jim Laker, Tony Lock, Johnny Wardle, Roy Tattersall) come close. Or perhaps the Indian attack of the 1970s, though it is a stretch to pool S Venkataraghavan (Test average 36.11) with the other three.
Yet, there is an underlying problem. Ashwin will turn 38 in a week, and India do not have an off-spinner waiting in the pipeline. Ravindra’s 36th birthday is less than three months away, as is Kuldeep’s 30th. Axar, Jadeja’s like-for-like replacement, will turn 31 a month after that.
India have predictably picked these four spinners for the first Test match against Bangladesh.
That brings us to a question: could India have picked another spinner, leaving out one of the quartet? If two of the four are expected to bow out in a few years, surely there is some merit in the idea.
Picking all four was the right call
First things first, there is a berth in the World Test Championship final to be earned. India might be at the top of the points table, but they have not qualified yet. If India do lose a Test match or two at home, they may have to count on the five-match Test in Australia to make up for that. Despite India’s successful tours in 2018/19 and 2020/21, returning triumphant from Australia is never an easy task.
It is important that India try to win not only both series but all five Test matches to ensure that even a 0-5 defeat in Australia does not hurt them enough. Their home season starts with Bangladesh, whose spin attack – Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam – is arguably the strongest to visit India in at least a decade, and who are fresh from sweeping Pakistan in Pakistan.
But, given India’s depth, could they have not won with a new spinner? It has only been months since they beat England at home without Mohammed Shami and a plethora of batters in a series where Jadeja missed a Test and Ashwin missed a day, and even Jasprit Bumrah was rested for a game.
Perhaps they could have picked another spinner, but for which of the four? Ashwin was not part of the original squads of the first round of the Duleep Trophy. Jadeja was, but he was released from the first round. It can safely be assumed that all that was because both are sure starters, leaving room for one of Axar and Kuldeep.
Axar’s batting credentials and exceptional bowling have kept him ahead of Kuldeep in the pecking order for a long time, but Kuldeep earned his place back during this year’s home series against England. Axar was the clear winner in the first round of the Duleep Trophy, but Kuldeep, now incumbent, is likelier to play. Unless Jadeja misses out for any reason, Kuldeep should play ahead of Axar in Australia as well.
Once Ashwin and Jadeja retire, Axar and Kuldeep are expected to carry on the mantle. If India had to play someone outside this quartet, that spinner would have had to leapfrog Kuldeep and Axar. That would mean denying the two best “young” (Kuldeep and Axar are young for spinners) candidates much-needed opportunities.
Alternately, one of the Ashwin and Jadeja could have been rested, but the former plays only Test cricket, while the latter has retired from T20Is. They would want to focus on the longest format for as long as possible. They may not have many years ahead of them, but they are not going away anywhere immediately. Even if one of them does, there will be one world-class spinner waiting to step in.
A parallel to the previous generation is perhaps misplaced. It is true that Harbhajan was around when Ashwin and Jadeja arrived, but at that point, the youngsters were largely untested. Kuldeep and Axar are already 50-wicket bowlers in Test cricket, and have shown the ability to run through strong opposition sides.
True, there will be a time when Ashwin and Jadeja leave. To prepare for that, the BCCI has been using the India A side to great effect. The decision to make centrally contracted cricketers play Indian first-class tournaments will also enhance the quality of domestic cricket in the country. The inexperienced spinners will be tested by batters of a quality they do not usually get to bowl at.
India already have Axar and Kuldeep to step into the giant shoes of Ashwin and Jadeja. By the time they leave (not together, hopefully), the process would throw up more options.
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