We continue our feature on spin bowling with a conversation with Maninder Singh, who was India's frontline spinner after the famed spin quartet of Bishen Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, B S Chandrashekar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan, until Anil Kumble came along.

Maninder, a former left-arm spinner, is a Grade I umpire and a respected cricket commentator today. Without mincing words, he was forthright in saying that spin bowling in India is struggling, especially without the services of Anil Kumble, and wondered why Sourav Ganguly wants to focus on spin for the upcoming series against Australia.

He said: "I don't know which spinners he [Ganguly] is relying on. The Australians are brilliant players of spin, and in Warne and MacGill, they have brilliant spinners."

The basic problem, according to Maninder, is the state of the pitches.

"The administration isn't giving enough thought to producing quality pitches. We need harder pitches to be able to compete at the international level," he says, adding it's time it wakes up to that.

"Hopefully," he adds, "it's not too late that we can't get up from the ground."

Maninder is of the opinion that with better tracks, the "art of spin bowling comes into play". He says, "Spinners can no longer just put it in one spot and hope the wicket does all the work. They will really have to turn the ball to succeed on good wickets."

Asked about the need to form a spin academy to unearth talent, along the lines of the MRF Pace Foundation, Maninder said a spin academy wouldn't really help unless there are good pitches.

Conversely, he contended, "With good pitches, we'd easily be able to distinguish the good spinners and wouldn't need an academy."

So who does he feel should be picked for the coming series?

Sunil Joshi, he says, has been given enough chances and hasn't performed adequately. On the other hand, Murali Karthik is very promising but he hasn't enjoyed a good run. "The time has come to give Karthik some confidence. He has the potential."

Although Sharandeep Singh did reasonably well on debut, Maninder felt it is still too early to say anything concrete about him. Beyond that, he opined that there aren't any outstanding spinners in the country.

But what about Nikhil Chopra?

"His role in Indian cricket should be limited to the shorter version of the game," he said.

However, he did mention the names two discarded bowlers who have been bowling very well of late. Harbhajan Singh and Rahul Sanghvi. "Sanghvi is improving with every match he plays and has bowled wonderfully in the Duleep Trophy, though with very little success."

Against the Aussies, Maninder's first choice spinners would be Karthik and Sharandeep Singh, simply because they have been given a start and haven't done badly yet. He would also go for Harbhajan in the team of 14 as the back-up spinner.

Bishen Singh Bedi's views
'What's the use of turning tracks that don't bounce'

Interviews

Mail Cricket Editor