Indian spin twins: Spinning a story

          It is an undeniable fact that India has been producing world-class spin bowlers since quite a long time. Though nowadays the Indian team has a strong pace bowling attack but the faith on the spinners remained the same as it was fifty years back. Many world-class spinners have played for India and certainly, there are also few unfortunate talents like Rajindar Goel, Padmakar Shivalkar who could have achieved the same accolades as their fellow colleagues if they had the chance to represent India.

          The subcontinental condition, especially the Indian condition is like heaven for spinners. The rough patches in the pitch holds the ball and helps to turn. But having a rough patch is not enough, the spinners should possess the quality to spin the ball and pitch it at the right spot. This is where the Indian spinners excel. They have been India’s greatest strength in overseas conditions as well. The bouncy pitches of Australia, New Zealand offered the batsmen easy opportunities to play their shots against pace bowling. But when it comes to facing spin bowling, they are not comfortable. 
          There is a trend that Indian spinners always hunt in pairs. Let's talk about some very successful pairs of spinners who made India proud with their performances not only in India but also in overseas conditions as well.

The Spin Quartet:

          During the 1960s and 1970s, the command of Indian bowling was on hands of four legendary spinners. They share a total of 853 international test wickets, 43 five-wicket hauls and 6 ten-wicket hauls among themselves. They are none other than Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Srinivas Venkataraghavan and Bishan Singh Bedi. 

The Spin Quartet: Erapalli Prasanna, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Bishan Singh Bedi

          While Prasanna and Venkataraghavan used to bowl off-break, Chandrasekhar was a leg spinner (if not the very first mystery spinner) and Bedi was an orthodox left-arm bowler.  Bedi was known for his accuracy and economical bowling. Chandrasekhar had a unique bowling action and bowling arm for a leg spinner. Prasanna and Venkataraghavan won Indian several matches with their off-spin. As a whole, they are the complete package of spinners one can ask for. But the interesting fact is that all these four spinners played together in only one game against England in 1967. Though their fans could not watch them play together in a match but they continued to play India for a long time and contributed to India’s success.

Kumble – Harbhajan:

          The standard of spin bowling set the Spin Quartet was so high that it was very difficult for any newcomer to fit in those shoes. It was only possible for a man like Anil Kumble who not only took charge of spin bowling department, but eventually he went on to be the most successful Indian bowler in International cricket in terms of wickets. After 8 years of Kumble’s debut in 1990, Harbhajan Singh also joined the party.

Kumble and Harbhajan 

Facing these two bowlers was a nightmare for any batsman. The statistics says that they share a total of 1036 test wickets and 606 ODI wickets. They played 54 tests and nearly 40 ODIs together. Kumble used to bowl leg break while Harbhajan was a typical off-spinner. Their bowling strategies were different. Kumble was never a big turner of the bowl. His accuracy and speed were the keys to his success. Harbhajan used to bowl more flighted deliveries and deceived batsmen in the air. Their strategies may differ but their objective was to win the games for India and they did it.

Ashwin - Jadeja:
          Introduction of T20I matches has made Cricket more engaging and entertaining to the spectators. But on the field, spinners have been the victims of this cruel format. It has become very tough to survive as a spinner. With all those negatives by their sides, few spinners consistently performed well in their international career. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are two bright examples of that.

Jadeja and Ashwin

           Ashwin's off-break and Jadeja's orthodox left-arm bowling formed a deadly combination for the batsmen. While Ashwin loves to fool batsman with his variations, Jadeja's accuracy is his strength. The duo has picked up 575 test wickets, 337 ODI wickets and 92 T20I wickets. Though Ashwin is now seen as a better test bowler and Jadeja have been used more in limited-overs cricket, they will always be regarded as one of the successful spin twins of all times.

Kul-Cha:
          In the last few years, wrist spinners have evolved as the greatest asset for a team playing limited-overs cricket. Consistent performances in limited-overs cricket, especially in T20 format has proved their importance. Today India is fortunate enough to have two high-quality wrist spinners who can turn the course of the match with their variations. They are the latest addition to the spin twins chapter of India, they are Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, commonly known as Kul-Cha. 

Chahal and Kuldeep

          Though they both are wrist spinners but their bowling styles are different. Chahal is a right-arm leg-break bowler while Kuldeep is a Chinaman bowler. Chahal's googly and Kuldeep's wrong-one are very deceptive. Both of them have been very successful in their short span of International cricket. They share a total of 195 ODI wickets, 94 T20I wickets till now. The title "Spin twin" is ideal for them because their success as a pair is more than their individual performance, simply they complement each other. So, It is certain that the numbers are going to increase and at the end of their career they will be India's one the successful spin twins.