Drop Kumble, invest in Chopra and Murali Kartik
The shoddy showing by the Indian bowlers, more specifically Kumble in the Tests and the one-day series in Australia seems to indicate that the spin department is quite bare
S Jagadish
15-Feb-2000
The shoddy showing by the Indian bowlers, more specifically
Kumble in the Tests and the one-day series in Australia seems
to indicate that the spin department is quite bare. Kumble was
treated by Australian and Pakistani batsmen like a mediocre bowler
(which is what he seemed to be for a huge chunk of the tour
except for a couple of games).
However all will no doubt be forgotten the moment India wins the
Tests or the one-day series against South Africa. Kumble will become
a match winner again and there will be no talk of sporting wickets
for quite some time. Then India will tour South Africa/England/West
Indies or some other country apart from Sri Lanka or Pakistan, get
hammered and the calls for sporting wickets will go out once again.
Ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
The need of the hour is to take bold decisions. None bolder than
dropping Kumble. India will inevitably play at least two spinners
in the side. On current form and performance, Chopra and either of
Murali Kartik or Sunil Joshi would have to be the contenders for
the spinning slots.
Chopra has been branded a one-day specialist for too long. With
the selectors and the team management not showing confidence in
Harbhajan during the Australia series, Chopra is the only choice
as an off-spinner. Rajesh Chauhan is more or less finished and
Kanwaljit Singh is too old to be considered (even though a couple of
years ago he was in the India A team!). The selectors also need
to shed the belief that Kumble is an automatic choice for the
Indian bowling attack.
Chopra obviously doesn't have the variety Saqlain has. In fact he
turns the ball even less than Harbhajan. But he makes up for these
shortcomings with very accurate bowling. He has also improved his
fielding and batting by leaps and bounds as he proved during the
tri-nation series in Singapore and later at Toronto and Kenya.
Chopra is an extremely hardworking cricketer and he seldom gives
less than 100%. Taking all this into account, he has to be given
an opportunity to shake off the 'one-day specialist' tag which
has been unfairly thrust upon him.
The second spinner's slot is basically a toss up between Murali
Kartik and Sunil Joshi. Kartik has been on the fringe of national
selection a number of times but for various reasons he hasn't made
it to the top yet. This season he has performed exceptionally well,
taking wickets in both forms of the game in the current season.
More importantly he has bowled tightly in the one-day games and
taken wickets too at crucial junctures. The cool headed approach
with which he bowled during the slog overs in the Challenger Trophy
is a good indicator of his ability, temperament and confidence.
Sunil Joshi impressed a lot of people in the only one-dayer he
played in Australia, the final league game at Perth against
Australia. He flighted the ball and got the wickets of Mark Waugh
and Ponting and bowled economically too. However it seems like
the team management doesn't have enough faith and confidence in
his abilities. Joshi has also proved to be a useful batsman on a
couple of occasions and can thus add some stability to a notoriously
poor tail.
However Joshi is nearly 31 and he hasn't quite fulfilled the promise
everyone thought he would when he went with the Indian team to England
in 1996. Similarly Kumble is into his 30s and while he would
possibly be around for the next 3-4 years, it is clear that his best
days are behind him. Kartik and Chopra are both young (24 and
26) and they are better investments for the future.
Of course, there will be talk on how a legspinner is always a
better bowler in cricket because he is instinctively an attacking
bowler. The argument fails in Kumble's context. Besides there
are hardly any legspinners performing well in Indian cricket
now. Bahutule is a spent force and hasn't been anywhere close to
national reckoning after his debut.
If Indian cricket is to progress, harsh and painful decisions need
to be taken. Dropping Kumble is just one of them.