Of Spinners And Pacers

It goes to the discredit of the Australian cricket team management not to have included Stuart MacGill in any of the Ashes Test matches. This only shows that how difficult it is for Ricky Ponting to cast aside the shadow of Steve Waugh and adopt new formulas for success when looking down the barrel. With none of the young faster bowlers looking fit enough right away to step into the shoes of the out-of-touch Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz, Australia might well look to feature both Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill in their Test side on a more consistent basis. The Super Series Test match may have just given the Aussies a new plan to cash on.

Turning back home, India certainly has a more promising bench strength of faster bowlers than the spinners. Every now and then, a V.R.V. Singh or a S.S. Paul keeps knocking at the door of the national squad. A healthy competition is developing among the faster bowlers, with coach Greg Chappell trying to create a pool of fast bowlers, so that an injury to one does not adversely affect the performance of the national team. But apart from Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, no spinner seems good enough for the long run. Murali Karthik is way too inconsistent, Ramesh Powar seems more capable with the bat than with the ball, Sarandeep Singh is fast fading into oblivion and Amit Mishra is just not good enough for the national side. In this juncture, young Piyush Chawla may just be a breath of fresh air and it is upto the cricket administrators in the country to set this ray of hope aflame and keep it ignited. The truth is that India now needs a spinners' academy like the pace foundation at Chennai.