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Spin master Shane Warne expects both Indian veteran Anil Kumble and young Australian spinner Cameron White to play in the third Test in New Delhi, starting on Wednesday.
India’s riches in the spin department have presented the host with a dilemma – whether to recall the captain, who has 616 Test scalps, or stick with the new frontier of young spinner Amit Mishra and Mahendra Dhoni as skipper.
A shoulder injury kept Kumble out of the second Test in Mohali, where Dhoni attacking captaincy earned him the man of the match award in the 320-run victory and Mishra took seven wickets.
Kumble is expected to be available to play at New Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla, where he has taken 55 wickets in six Tests previously.
And the ground staff are clamouring to prepare a pitch to suit him.
The Australians’ dilemma could not be more stark in contrast.
They must decide between giving White another match, despite him taking only four wickets at 51.75 in the first two Tests, or picking offspinner Jason Krejza for his debut.
Warne said Kumble, 38, deserved the chance to play more Test cricket given this could be his final series.
“I think this will probably be his last series, Anil Kumble, let him have this series and then Mishra has got 10 years of playing,” Warne said in Melbourne today.
“They’re 1-0 up, he’s the captain of the country, he’s a great man, he’s a good captain.
“Dhoni has got plenty of time to captain and Mishra has got plenty of time, so I’d be disappointed if Anil Kumble doesn’t play.
“Knowing what Anil is like, he’s very, very competitive – he’s a gentleman, but he’s very, very competitive deep down – and I’m sure he’ll fight back in this Test match and will be very dangerous.”
As for White, Warne said Australia had to persist with a young spinner and cut him some slack, as it was extremely difficult bowling first up to Indian batsmen on their pitches.
He said White’s initiation would serve him well in the long-term, as his fellow Victorian would be driven to push himself to improve.
“If you really struggle when you first play you appreciate how tough Test cricket is and then over time you’ve got something to fall back on when it doesn’t go well,” said Warne, whose first two Tests brought figures of 1-228 against India.
“I’m encouraged by Cameron White. The way he’s started and I think he’ll get better and better.
“He’s had a taste for it which will hopefully make him hungry and really work on his bowling and batting and whole game.
“I think he’s done ok.”
This summer Warne will continue travelling around the country as a spin-bowling coach for potential successors to himself, Brad Hogg and Stuart MacGill, who all retired within 18 months in 2007-08.
Warne says there’s plenty of good, young slow bowling talent around and all they needed was encouragement from their captains.
“It’s not just, ‘Quick bowler, quick bowler, quick bowler, let’s try a medium pacer, part-timer, OK they’re 0-80, spinner have a bowl’,” he said.
“We’ve got to back the spinner in first-class and domestic cricket, which will then hold him in good stead when we get to international cricket.
“Hopefully this summer, between myself and the other spin-bowling coaches around Australia, we can give Ricky (Ponting) and the selectors some options.”
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