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Revival of a dying art by Vidhu Balakrishnan
This peach of a delivery pitched outside the batsman’s leg stump, spun and turned considerably, before hitting the top of the off stump taking the batsman by surprise, much to the delight of the bowler and excitement of the fielders. The batsman was the burly Englishman Mike Gatting and the bowler Shane Warne, Australia’s new bowling sensation. Warne had just bowled, what is now famously described as,” The ball of the century”. This happened on the second day of the first test of the Ashes series in 1993 at Old Trafford, Manchester. This delivery of Warne was ranked 92nd in the Channel 4’s list of 100 greatest sporting moments in British Television. Shane Warne had arrived and through him the dying art of leg spin revived. Leg spin is an art very difficult to bowl, but when bowled accurately is one of the most difficult to bat against, because it is very difficult to read the flight and turn. No wonder good leg spinners are considered the most threatening bowlers in the world to handle. A Leg spinner’s armory also consists of the googly, which turns in the opposite direction to a normal leg break, the top spinner which doesn’t turn but dips sharply and bounces higher than the normal leg spin and the flipper which, straightens up and skids through.
History of leg spin and the legends of the game
England’s Bernard Bosanquet was one of the earliest exponents of leg spin but sadly played only 7 tests taking 25 wickets at 24.16 apiece. It was Bosanquet who stumbled upon the googly, the deadly weapon unleashed by leg spinners. While bouncing a tennis ball off a billiard table to the person standing on the other side, he realized if the wrist was turned further at the moment before release, the ball would spin away to the off instead of the leg without an obvious change of action, deceiving the person on the other side. He described it as an ordinary break produced by an extraordinary method thus giving birth to Bosanquet’s brainchild, “The googly”.
Another great leg spinner was the New Zealand born, Australian leg spinner Clarrie Grimmet. He was the first bowler to take 200 test wickets. Grimmet became a leg spinner by chance. He was a fast bowler. One day while he was asked to bowl another over at nets by the coach in Wellington, a tired Grimmett resorted to leg spin. His coach took him aside and forbid him not to bowl fast again because he found Grimmett’s leg spin fascinating. He also chanced upon a magazine article by Bosanquet on the discovery of the googly, which made him more interested in leg spin. He practiced hard in his backyard and soon realized that one of his deliveries was something special. Using his thumb and second finger he bowled one, which skidded through, without turning. Thus was born the,” Flipper”. Since New Zealand had not achieved test status he migrated to Australia. He played for Victoria and eventually headed for South Australia. He was 32 years old when he made his debut against England, taking 11 wickets for 82 runs with Australia winning the match by 307 runs. There was no looking back for Grimmet as he went on to capture 216 wickets in 37 tests at an average of 24.21 with a career best of 7 for 40.He took 5 wickets in an innings 21 times and 10 wickets in a match 7 times.
Sir Donald Bradman considered Bill O’Reilly, another great Australian leg spinner as the greatest bowler he had ever seen. Like Grimmett he too started of as a fast bowler only to be told by his coach to switch to leg spin. He was instrumental in Australia winning the famous Bodyline series in 1932-33.His 5 for 63 and 5 for 66 along with Bradman’s 103 not out at Melbourne enabled Australia win that test. In the 1934 series against England, he and Grimmet shared 53 wickets between them. Australia regained the Ashes 2-1.In 1935 he was chosen by Wisden among their five cricketers of the year. His accuracy was the result of unusual bowling grip. The conventional spinners held the ball between their fingers but O’Reilly pressed the ball inwards towards the palm. He was not a big turner of the cricket ball, but he was a difficult bowler to read as he used, both the googly and the top spinner with deadly effect. He played 27 times for Australia taking 144 wickets at an average of 22.59.Most Englishmen rated him higher than Grimmett though some like Wally Hammond differed.
Richie Benaud the Australian leg spinner was one of the most successful all rounders ever to have played for Australia. Well known to today’s generation as a commentator and Television presenter Benaud was a cricketer of great repute. Apart from taking 248 wickets in 63 tests, Benaud also came good with the bat scoring 2201 runs with a century against West Indies in just 78 minutes at Kingston in 1954-55.As a bowler Benaud was a classical leg spinner who bowled the googly, top spinner and the flipper. He captained Australia in 28 Tests with 12 wins and 4 losses. His best test figures of 7 for 72 in the first innings was against India in the first test at Madras during the 1956-57 tour to the sub-continent. He followed it up with 11 wickets in the third test at Calcutta helping the Aussies winning the series 2-0.Benaud bagged 24 wickets in that series at 17.66 apiece. Incidentally he is the first player to complete the Test double of 200 wickets and 2,000 runs. Benaud’s finest moment came against England in 1961 at Old Trafford. England needing 256 to win was comfortably placed at 150 for the loss of just 1 wicket. Benaud bowled beautifully to bundle England for 201 with figures of 6 for 70.
Though Australia has produced some great leg spinners it was Shane Warne who was credited with reviving the art of leg spin. With the arrival of Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillie for Australia and a battery of fast bowlers like Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Colin croft, Wayne Daniel, Sylvester Clarke and Malcolm Marshall for West Indies made it looked like as if spin bowling was slowly dying, because the 80s was dominated by some express speedsters. Come the 1990’s and Shane Warne mesmerized the cricketing world with his brand of leg spin. He was a great tweaked of the ball and the Englishmen and South Africans found him too hot to handle. In a career spanning 15 years and 145 tests Shane Warne took 708 wickets at 25.41 which was later broken by Muthiah Muralitharan in 2007. He also has a tally of 293 wickets in one dayers. He had an inauspicious debut against India taking 1 for 150. Ravi Shastri was his first victim but not before Ravi scored his only double century. Shane Warne reserved his best for the Ashes series. However his average against India was 47.18 per wicket with Sachin Tendulkar giving him nightmares. Alec Stewart of England had the distinction of being Shane Warne’s 150th, 250th and 400th test victim. Presently playing for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, Shane Warne led them to victory in the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008.He is being rated as one of the best captains in IPL as he has shown results without any super stars playing for Rajasthan Royals.
Legendary leg spinners of the subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent has produced some of the finest leg spinners in the game. Subash Gupte, B.S.Chandrashekar, Intikhab Alam, Abdul Qadir, Mushtaq Ahmed, Anil Kumble and Danish Kaneria to name a few are some of the greats from the Indian Subcontinent.
Subash Gupte was one of the earliest leg spinners from the subcontinent. He was rated by Sir Garfield Sobers as the best leg spinner he had seen. He not only lighted the ball but also extracted enormous turn from the wicket giving nightmares to the opposition batsmen. He had a golden opportunity of taking 10 wickets in an innings. This happened in the 1958-59 home series against West Indies. Had it not been for the dropped catch by wicket keeper Naren Tamhane, Gupte would have been the first Indian to take 10 wickets in an innings. Indian fans can rejoice that another Indian Anil Kumble holds that distinction now. In a career spanning 36 tests Gupte took 149 wickets at an average of 29.55 with 5 wickets in an innings 12 times and 10 wickets in a match once. Gupte migrated to Trinidad after he called it a day.
B.S.Chandrasekar was another leg spinner from India who played in the 60s and 70s.He along with Prasanna, Bedi and Venkataraghavan formed the famous spin quartet for India. His tally of wickets 242 was more than the 167 runs scored by him. It was a common sight to see Chandra trek in and out of the stadium in a matter of few minutes. As Chandrasekhar was afflicted with polio on his right hand he had a whipping action which made it difficult for the batsman to read. One could call him a fastest leg spinner as his deliveries were quite quick. Chandra himself did not know what kind of delivery he wanted to bowl next. He would often come up with loose delivers only to send down an unplayable one next ball. That was Chandra for you and he was a real rabbit with the bat with 23 ducks to his credit. He was named the Wisden cricketer of the year in 1972.In 2002 he also won the Wisden’s “Best bowling performance of the century” award for his 6 for 38 runs against England at the Oval in 1971.
Anil Kumble like his predecessors Chandrasekhar and Prasanna came from the state of Karnataka.
Making his debut in the year 1990 against England at Manchester he went on to play 132 test matches for India bagging 619 wickets behind Shane Warne and Muralitharan. He was the first Indian bowler to take 500 wickets in test cricket surpassing Kapil Dev’s record of 434 wickets in 131 tests. He reached 50 wickets in 10 tests and 100 in just 21 tests. His best moment came against Pakistan at New Delhi’s Kotla wicket Kumble took all 10 wickets becoming only the second bowler after Jim Laker of England.
In the year 1996 he took a remarkable 61 wickets in one day cricket. His final tally was 337 wickets in 271 one dayers. Kumble had the satisfaction of scoring a test century though it came in his 118th test match which itself is a world record.
Intikhab Alam of Pakistan was an all rounder who bowled his leg spinners to good effect. His tally of 125 wickets came in 47 matches. As a batsman he scored 1493 runs with one century and eight fifties.
He thus had the distinction of completing the all rounder’s double of 100 wickets and 1000 runs. He was Pakistan’s captain in three tests. He had a long stint with English County Surrey like many other cricketers from Pakistan which helped him hone his skills. Intikhab Alam was also Pakistan’s first one day cricket captain.
Abdul Qadir was a wrist spinner known as the magician then who could do a lot of tricks with the ball. He had a lot of variety and could bowl the leg spinner, googly, top spinner and the flipper with telling effect. He was an aggressive cricketer who blossomed under the captaincy of the flamboyant Imran Khan. He made his test debut against England in 1997 at Lahore. He was one of the most successful bowlers during his period. His six wickets at Lords in 1982 helped Pakistan win the test. In 1983 against Australia Qadir was deadly taking 22 wickets in 3 tests with Pakistan making a clean sweep. In 1987 he was at his best against England taking an astounding 30 wickets in 3 tests including his best figures of 9 for 56 at Lahore. He was highly successful against the mighty West Indies in the 80s. He ended up with 236 wickets in 67 tests. In the limited over version he bagged 132 wickets in 104 matches. A few rated Abdul Qadir even ahead of Shane Warne.
Mustaq Ahmed had the distinction of playing for Somerset, Surrey and Sussex in county cricket. He took 185 wickets for Pakistan in 52 tests and 161 wickets in 144 one day internationals. His style was similar to that of Qadir and was unlucky not to have played more because he was considered a world class spinner having made a mark in the county circuit. In 2003 Mustaq was the leading wicket taker in county cricket with 103 wickets helping Sussex win their first championship title in history. He followed it up with 84 wickets the next year to head the table again. He was also instrumental in winning the 1992 world cup for Pakistan. He bagged 3 for 41 under the captaincy of Imran Khan who himself was the top scorer with 72.His scalps included Graham Gooch and Graeme Hick.
Danish Kaneria at 6 ft 1 inch was a tall man unlike Mustaq Ahmed who stood 5 ft 4 inches. His height enables him to achieve good bounce and he also turns the ball sharply. He made his debut in the year 2000 at Faisalabad against England. He is the nephew of former wicketkeeper Anil Dalpat. In 58 test matches till date Kaneria has 254 wickets though he has strangely played only 18 one dayers taking 15 wickets. He is already fourth on the list of highest wicket takers for Pakistan after Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Imran Khan and he is still not yet 30 years old.
The list doesn’t end here with Ajantha Mendis, Piyush Chawla, Amit Mishra and Malinga Bandara to name a few waiting in the wings for greater glory in the years to come.
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by Vidhu Balakrishnan
The crowd at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium, Gwalior went into ruptures on the 24th of February 2010 when history was created. Many in the stands said that they were fortunate enough to see one of the greatest innings they have seen in one day cricket, because it is not everyday that one gets to see some one score 200 runs in one day internationals, and that someone was Sachin Tendulkar, one of the greatest players to have ever played the game. That he was from India was something that they were proud of, because every one knows cricket is a Religion in India and Sachin is considered as God. Compliments poured in from former greats of the game. There is just no question about that. He is the greatest batsman the game has ever seen,” declared Gavaskar.Sachin — the greatest ever player ever — without any doubt,” the IPL boss wrote on his Twitter page.” Better than Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting, two other great players of my era, better than Sir Viv Richards, Sunil Gavaskar and Alan Border, and I would even say better than Sir Don Bradman himself,”said Nasser Hussain.Now the million-dollar question is what makes people think that Sachin is better than Bradman?Gavaskar had once said that unless and until someone scores more than 29 centuries in 52 tests, he cannot be compared to Bradman.Sachin took 99 test matches to notch up30 centuries.
Everyone knows that Bradman has a Test average of 99.94 compared to Sachin’s average of 55.57.Let’s take a look at the first class records of both Sachin and Bradman.Sachin in 422 innings has scored 22,336 runs in first class cricket, a healthy average of 59.24 with 74 centuries and 100 half centuries. Compare this with Bradman’s record of 28,067 runs in 338 innings with an astounding average of 95.14 with 117 centuries and 69 half centuries. Tendulkar has played 84 more innings than Bradman but scored 5731 runs less. Sachin is of the greatest batsman of the modern era and let’s be happy with that. Comparing him to Bradman is unfair because Bradman is in a league of his own.
The master batsman from Mumbai is indeed an inspiration for an entire generation right from the common man on the streets to cricketers and Sports scribes. Everybody likes to write about him and sing his praises but most get carried away when writing about him with each trying to outdo the other in heaping laurels on him. The Maharashtra Government even went to the extent of recommending Sachin Tendulkar for the country’s highest recognition Bharat Ratna.Not only politicians but former cricketers have also rooted for Tendulkar.This is surely a distraction because now that Sachin is going a purple patch he should concentrate on his cricket and it is better that he is left alone to do what he is best at, that is playing cricket. The Bharat Ratna can wait till he calls it a day. Public memory can be very short and in 20 years from now Sachin’s deeds will be part of history to the generation in 2030.Knowing Sachin’s passion for the game one wouldn’t be surprised to see a certain left handed batsman named Arjun Tendulkar being talked about in the same breath as he was talked about.
