A billion hearts here (and more across continents) were beating fast as the last ten overs remained – it was all suddenly looking tight with both sides not ceding anything and the elusive Champions Trophy was on the line ! The big match was going down to the wire.. once a cakewalk with openers Rohit & Gill notching up a superb century partnership. In a‘cat and mouse’ game, Santner & Bracewell, dangerous looking Kiwi bowlers completed their quota that Rahul & Hardik coolly played out, the scales again tilted & with Jadeja’s four, it had Dubai stadium erupting with fireworks & witnessing delirious scenes of joy !
But how was the platform set for such a win on a slow track that wasn’t conducive to any extravagant stroke-making. With India again opting for four spinners (that included two all rounders), the strategy of choking the Kiwi batters in the middle overs was working as per plan. Veteran Jadeja & versatile Axar did the holding job at one end but the real impact was from ‘mystery’ spin of Varun Chakravarty, rookie on big stage & inscrutable left-arm wrist-spin of Kuldeep, out-guessing Kiwi batters and forcing mistakes.
As cricket lovers are we witnessing a return to golden era of the fab ‘spin quartet’ of the 60’s & 70s of Chandra, Bedi, Prasanna & Venkat ? Like our famed local cuisine with all its exotic herbs & spices, the art of spin bowling was given new dimensions by these legends who won for us matches against top playing nations. Our pitches don’t have the bouncy tracks with foreign conditions, ‘spin’ is our natural ally to bowling armory. Our two highest wicket takers (Kumble & Ashwin) were both spinners who set world records.
With game of cricket devolving more and more towards commercial aspects of playing the shorter format, tight bowling to contain hitters in limited overs is the norm and spin bowling has to be accurate as against use of guile of tossing the ball up to the batter. In that context the many successes of our spin duos of Ashwin-Jadeja and later on Kul-Cha (Chahal- Kuldeep) have brilliantly put their skills and adapted to the needs of the team. Dubai pitches may have suited spin more than pace but it’d encourage our think-tank to nurture the wealth of spin bowlers who excel in IPL but often don’t find place in scheme of things. Bowler of caliber of Yuvi Chahal has not found favour despite his track record. Limited overs needs all-rounders, so specialist bowlers must become good batters too !
In the lighter vein, the word ‘spin’ had became part of our DNA as we grew up. From taking a ‘fair maiden’ for a spin on the mo-bike and ‘spinning a yarn’ to parents at home and teachers in school, was all in a day’s work. Hard working ‘Washing Machine’ has to spin to get apparels clean but has now become known in political sphere for other uses ! People are giving new ‘spin’ to old narratives & throwing a ‘Googly’ is not just in Cricket.
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