OUR bowling is the weakest link in the team. It has been so since the late ’70s and early ’80s—only, we have taken 17 years to realise this.
Even after the advent of one day cricket, India showed the world the powers of spin bowling. In the 1985 Benson & Hedges tournament, L. Sivarama-krishnan and Ravi Shastri, supported by Kapil Dev and Chetan Sharma, bowled out every team except Pakistan in the finals. But once the losing run began, we didn’t know how to recover. The focus was always on our batting failures, never on our bowling.
Our batting lineup is the best we can have. But the bowlers still can’t bowl opponents out. Is this not a clear indication that our bowling is at its lowest ebb? We have ignored the white ants that have crept into our system for a long time. Now, it is time for some pest control—and we need sturdy spinners to fight the pests.
In a Test match, any bowling attack that is effective after the 15th over and till the second new ball is taken, can call the shots. Which...
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