Why isn’t leg spin popular in test cricket?

[SecondSlip]

Since leg spinners are considered as wicket takers, then how come they aren’t as popular in test cricket as they are in ODIs & T20s?

 

Other than Yasir Shah and Devendra Bishoo there are no leg spinners playing test cricket as their team’s first choice spin bowler. 

 

Aus - Lyon 

Eng - Moeen 

NZ - Santner

BD - Mehdi 

Ind - Ashwin 

SL - Herath 

SA - Maharaj

 

All the bowlers listed above are finger spinners! 

[Straight Drive]

Anil Kumble 

Shane Warne

Richie Benaud 

Subhash Gupte

Abdul Qadir

Chandrasekhar

Mushtaq Ahmed

Bill O'Reilly

Mac Gill

 

Paul Strange, Graeme Creamer, Yasir Shah, Kaneria, Bishoo, Imran Tahir, Piyush Chawla, Ish Sodhi, Adil Rashid, Jubair Hossain are others who have played tests. Rashid Khan too as Afghans have made test debut. Think there will be more if we put more  I thought to those who have bowled leg spin in tests.  Successful bowlers in tests (pacer or spinners) in itself are getting rare since those having made debut after 2000. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Clarke]

Generally speaking, wrist spin is a tougher art since it offers lesser control than orthodox spin. Those that do manage to combine most of the attributes of a good spinner (flight, turn, variety etc) with control are successful.

 

Most successful T20 wrist spinners bowl quicker through the air, basically evolved as per the format. This is different from conventional wrist spin which commonly relies on flight, guile and turn.

Edited July 21, 2018 by Clarke

[rkt.india]

lack of control. most leg spinners give filth balls every over and release pressure. When there is a turning track then left arm spinner or an off spinners become more potent because they will be more accurate.

[rkt.india]

19 minutes ago, Straight Drive said:

Anil Kumble 

Shane Warne

Richie Benaud 

Subhash Gupte

Abdul Qadir

Chandrasekhar

Mushtaq Ahmed

Bill O'Reilly

Mac Gill

 

Paul Strange, Graeme Creamer, Yasir Shah, Kaneria, Bishoo, Imran Tahir, Piyush Chawla, Ish Sodhi, Adil Rashid, Jubair Hossain are others who have played tests. Rashid Khan too as Afghans have made test debut. Think there will be more if we put more  I thought to those who have bowled leg spin in tests.  Successful bowlers in tests (pacer or spinners) in itself are getting rare since those having made debut after 2000. 

 

 

 

 

 

those were all past.

[Ankit_sharma03]

The team who have quality leg spinner for the format will play them,  if many teams arent means they dnt have quality leg spinner for longer format

[Clarke]

The other imp factor is defensive batting standards have fallen overall. On tracks offering a hint of assistance to spin, most batsmen struggle royally. In such circumstances, orthodox spinners get more wickets for lesser runs with the available control.

 

Look at SA play in Lanka. Slow left arm spinner arm ball means lbw, turner means outside edge, vice versa for the offie. Ashwin+Jadeja chew the opposition alive on our wickets which aren't minefields. 

 

 

[Stan AF]

Because its THE MOST DIFFICULT thing in cricket.

[MechEng]

Off spin requires fingers to spin the ball while leg spin needs wrists to spin the ball. Which is why if you don't have strong wrists you won't be able to spin the ball much.

Which is the reason why Warne is considered a genius, leg spin came naturally to him. People say Warne worked very hard to become the leg spin master, but then every cricketer works very hard including first class cricketers. Warne made the art of leg spin look effortless.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

You need to consistently impart a lot of revs on the ball to challenge batsmen. In test cricket, batsmen can sit back, defend and wait for a bad ball to be out way. So unless you can get massive turn on your legbreak, you will be played easily. 

[R!TTER]

7 hours ago, Stan AF said:

Because its THE MOST DIFFICULT thing in cricket.

I dunno know man, a solid/young WK is the most sought after commodity in Indian cricket right now. Good wk/bats are still pretty rare atm.

[Lala]

Afridi was a better leg spinner in shorter format. 

[MechEng]

1 hour ago, Nikhil_cric said:

You need to consistently impart a lot of revs on the ball to challenge batsmen. In test cricket, batsmen can sit back, defend and wait for a bad ball to be out way. So unless you can get massive turn on your legbreak, you will be played easily. 

Leg spin is still the toughest skill to master in cricket. With fast bowling you are either inclined to bowl fast or you don't, no one can train to become a fast bowler, but leg spin bowling is something that can be learnt even by an average person.

 

I'm pretty sure Kumble, Afridi and Rashid Khan who use deceptive pace to get batsmen out secretly wished that they had the ability to spin it big. Even those who spin it big like Amit Mishra and Imran Tahir find it very hard to control the trajectory of the ball which is why they get smashed for boundaries. Complete mastery over leg spin needs lots of patience.