I Hate Spinners

[Dhondy]

OK, I am back to my favourite moan. Why does India play spinners when they are no good at all? I'd understand Anil Kumble at his pomp, but Romesh Powar and Harbhajan Singh, FFS! I particularly hate Powar. All he does is run in with a smirk, adipose tissue jiggling, and throw the ball as high as he can, and then stand back and watch as its smitten for six. He's a loser. As is Bhajji. He's been a dead weight on the team for a long time. Why do they keep resurrecting him? There's no doubt that our spinners lost us the initiative provided by the seamers in both matches. Aussies love spin. They hate quality fast bowling, like the rest of the world. Those knocking Sreesanth today, look at his wickets column, and then look at Brett Lee's figures. That's how good he is. Zaheer, RP and Pathan are pretty good as well. Our seamers have started repairing our pathetic overseas record in Tests. Give them a chance to do the same at home and overseas. Prepare seam friendly pitches. Recent record shows we actually do better on such tracks. And then, pick seamers. Trust them to do the job. Kick out the worthless twirly-bins. Sreesanth, Zaheer, RP Singh and Pathan- that's a dream combo. If you can't get another decent seamer, get Yuvi and Sachin to share out the ten overs. They couldn't do worse than Powar and Bhajji. Spin is dead. Long live seam.

[coffee_rules]

Look at how India played Aussie spin. Spinners from Aussies took 5 wkts for 75 runs. I think one spinner is good, what's the point in bowling Tendlya and Yuvi, even after taking 2 regular spinner.

[DravidDaBest]

Good point. Agree that Powar and Harbhajan are useless. But quality spin stil rocks. Piyush might have been good bet against Aus. But with current Indian team, we better stick with seamer friendly wickets!

[Bumper]

Spin is not dead. Spinners are dying in India. Chawla (if fit) would have proved useful. All pacemen make up a one dimensional attack, something that Saffies & English (before Panesar), suffered from. Aussie batsmen are so good. They will crush anything they come up against. Doesnt matter they are pacers or spinners.

[DravidDaBest]

Our pacers (except Zaheer) still haven't been bowling good change of pace, cutters, rolling the fingers off the seam etc. Thats why they don't do well on patta ODI wickets

[kumble_rocks]

I particularly hate Powar. All he does is run in with a smirk, adipose tissue jiggling, and throw the ball as high as he can, and then stand back and watch as its smitten for six. He's a loser.

Both Powar and Piyush did reasonably well in England. In fact , Powar had an health economy rate of 4.3 . So , the question begs, why deem him to be useless when he has been quite productive in the recent tour. And he does vary his pace quite well which explains his healthy economy rate .

[kabira]

drop both spinners...and include chawla if fit..or find some left arm spinner..

[Gambit]

I like watching spinners, who attack, in ODIs. Murali(who isn't really a bowler but that's a debate for another day) makes for compelling viewing because he attacks. Saqi, who is the best ODI spinner I have ever seen, relentlessly attacked the batsmen. Warney did the same, especially in the 1999 world cup. It is when spinners look to contain rather than attack that they look rather boring and toothless. Bhajji has been guilty of this for some time now. As one of our frontline bowlers, we want him to prise out batsmen, not bowl a quiet 10 overs for 40 runs. If Bhajji continues to bowl with that mindset, I'd rather play Chawla and 3 quicks. Chawla has that aggressive mindset that many spinners lack today. He may go for 4.5-6 an over but he will get wickets. And in ODIs, nothing slows down scoring like wickets. BTW Welcome back DDB. Long time.

[DravidDaBest]

Thanks Gambit. I agree that Bhaji is soo obsessed with containing mode rather than wicket taking mode. Captain Dhoni should play a major role here and give him confidence to attack the batsman (Like Saqlain or Warney..Boy, they used to bowl during field restrictions as well as slog overs).

[Mr. Wicket]

It's not an issue of spinners and pacers here. India are playing the best team in the world here, and are up against an opponent that that excels both in skill on the field and psychological/mental games and toughness. What's needed is not a 3/1 or 4/1 or 4/0 pacer-spinner combination, but a mix of bowlers with real mongrel to them. Fighters who can throw a few words back, not be afraid to get hit, and better yet, respond to a Symonds charge and slash or a Hayden pick up and slog with intelligent bowling rather than just trying the same thing over and over again, or retreating into a shell. Zaheer, Sreesanth and Irfan fit that bill. All three really impressed me yesterday, particularly Sreesanth with his slower balls at the death against a well set and destructive Haddin. Powar has disappointed. He's been attacked by the Australian batsmen, but hasn't been able to respond well - hasn't used the width of the crease as he used to earlier, bowled a few too many loose balls and hasn't gone out on all-out attack as he did when breaking into the side. Harbhajan has been the biggest disappointment. He found turn and bounce yesterday early in his spell, yet was content with not being hit, rather than taunting the batsman and trying to get his wicket. Chawla (if fit soon) or maybe even Murali Kartik might be worth a gamble. Remember how Kartik fared in the ODI tri-series in 03 - he didn't just toss the ball up or fire it in, but mixed his deliveries up smartly, kept Australia honest and threatened to take wickets while keeping runs down. He lacks the sheer talent of a Bhajji or Chawla, but he has mongrel about him.

[Guest dada_rocks]

with 60 yard boundary line and hulks batting spin is waste of space.. Having said that Hogg always outperforms indian spinners in one day games whenver they go head to head.. Either our batsmen are pi$$ poor or Hogg is little too under-rated as opposed to our prima donnas

[MundaPakistani]

Good post again Doc. Both spinners need to find the right balace, one is throwing darts and the other is throwing roof high lollies. DR, Brad Hogg is THE most underrated ODI bowler in the world. I would say he is easily the 2nd best spinner behind Murali.

[DravidDaBest]

Hogg is a good spinner and also Australia's secret weapon. If he plays reguarly, batsman will get used to his bowling. They use him sparingly.

[sachin_fan]

bhajji is a quality spinner. I wouldnt say the same about powar. I think someone needs to clear his head. He has a very good dhoosra and its a potent weapon. I think dhoni should back him and set very aggressive fields in his initial spell. Bhaji is one of those players who takes wickets in bunches. I am sure, that given an aggressive field and a different goal, he can be very potent. Also , the extra spinner is doing no good. With gangu back, i think we can go in for an xtra batsmen and use gangu, sachin and yuvi for the 10 overs. Powar out and rohit in will improve our fielding

[Dhondy]

Hate these mo-fo spinners. They are the biggest [edit], cluttering up cricket. Apart from Warne and Kumble, there's not a single spinner I respect. See that [edit] Murali- the Bangladesh killer who is being flogged like a village goat by the Aussies? That's what spin is- utter rubbish, unless you have the heart of a Shane Warne. I hope to live to see the day when teams will wake up to this great con and stop selecting spinners.

[Ram]

^ Murali took 6 wickets against Australia 4 matches ago. Spinners are mostly a liability in odis but in helpful conditions, there is no better way to put pressure on a batsman than having two decent spinners operate at both the ends.

[Dhondy]

^ Murali took 6 wickets against Australia 4 matches ago. Spinners are mostly a liability in odis but in helpful conditions, there is no better way to put pressure on a batsman than having two decent spinners operate at both the ends.

Bollocks.

[varun]

lol, you're cracking me up these days doc. Maamla kya hai, it looks like a conscious image-change effort :P

[Sachinism]

spinners are useful if they are able to do a bit with the ball and have some variation, because a lot of international batsmen find them difficult but if you have spinners with only one delivery that doesnt turn much, then they are useless

[Ram]

Bollocks.

Match 3 , Spinners bowl 22 overs, conceede just 91 runs and took 3 wickets. Paceman - 25 overs , 145 runs , 4 wickets. Take your pick.