India need to stick with the young spinners

The Indian team over the past few years have been very reluctant to experiment with the spin bowling options.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have pretty much played in all formats over the last few years, and except for Amit Mishra and Axar Patel, the management haven’t tried any new spinners for long.

All that changed with the introduction of Kuldeep Yadav earlier this year and Chahal’s magical spell against England in a T20 game.

In the last three years Ashwin and Jadeja have played 79 and 69 games respectively in all formats, and the next on the list is Axar Patel, who has represented India in 39 games. Amit Mishra comes in the fourth position with 23 games and Harbhajan Singh has played in 12 games. Ashwin and Jadeja bowl lots of overs in Tests for India, and it showed in the way they bowled in limited over games this year.

The Indian think tank has also realised recently the importance of playing wrist spinners in the shorter format. The success of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav has given the team excellent attacking option in the middle overs.

Axar Patel has also made a comeback to the Indian team and has done well with the chances he has got. The combination of Axar, Chahal and Kuldeep gives the Indian captain great variety and a different line of attack in ODI games.

(Image: AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Ashwin especially does not add much to the ODI or T20 team anymore. His batting has never been suited to the shorter format and he is one of the slow movers in the field for India. Ravi Jadeja, though an excellent fielder, doesn’t offer anything different to Axar Patel or Krunal Pandya, who is waiting in the wings to take the spin all-rounder spot.

While the premier spinners are resting the trio of Chahal, Kuldeep and Axar have done no harm to their chances with stellar performances in the recent games. Kuldeep Yadav was the star in the ODI series against West Indies and Chahal had a great time in Sri Lanka and in the home T20 series against England earlier this year. Axar Patel, as usual, has been consistent and has picked up wickets to go with his miserly bowling spells.

In their short careers Axar has 47 wickets at 28, Chahal has 25 wickets at 19 and Kuldeep has 23 wickets at 20. These are great numbers for a start on pitches which have been batting paradises.

These young spinners have given the Indian think tank a lot to think about. The selectors not opting for Ravi Ashwin and Jadeja for the home series against Australia shows the confidence they have on these young spinners. The spin bowling stocks are suddenly looking up for India, at least in the limited-overs format. The Indian selectors will be hoping to find a good off-spinner as well to have the variety available.

No matter what happens in the first three games against the Aussies, the selectors need to keep the faith on these young bowlers and give them a long run. Ravi Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin have done wonderfully well over the years, but this is the time for them to take a break from the shorter formats and allow these young bowlers to take the centre stage.