For the first time since the 1992 World Cup, India will be going into this year’s 50-over showpiece with no right-arm spinner in the squad.
Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav — all left-armers — form India’s spin department in this year’s World Cup that begins on October 5.
The left-arm trio give India “the best balance”, chief selector Ajit Agarkar emphasised when the squad was announced on Tuesday. Kuldeep has consistently impressed in the ODIs since his comeback in August 2022. Jadeja’s all-round abilities make him an automatic choice while Axar is seen as a like-for-like replacement for the former.
But having said that, wouldn’t the presence of a right-arm off-spinner or a leg-break bowler bring about some kind of variation in the bowling attack? Yes, Kuldeep’s ability to turn the ball both ways can solve a fair bit of India’s problems, but in a long tournament like the World Cup, he could well have an off day or two with the ball or struggle to bowl with a similar kind of rhythm in all the games.
Besides, a right-arm spinner and a left-armer operating in tandem does make the batsmen do a certain amount of adjustment, particularly in terms of angles. On the Indian pitches, these aspects do go on to be massive at times.
Obviously, India will not be fielding three spinners in all the games. But in centres like Chennai and Lucknow, where spinners are expected to get a little more assistance, one may well come across three tweakers alongside two specialist quicks with Hardik Pandya as the third pacer.
It wouldn’t have been bad at all if the team management had more spin options to choose from. A right-armer could well be a surprise weapon for the destructive English batting side that still tends to be scratchy at times against tight, disciplined spin bowling.
Besides, most of the venues slotted for the World Cup being quite big, not all mishits will clear the boundaries with ease. A Yuzvendra Chahal or even a Ravichandran Ashwin could have been useful in such a scenario.
“Ideally, it’s good to have a combination of right-arm and left-arm spinners. But if these are the best spinners you have, you need to go ahead with them. You have to give precedence to current form and performance,” former national selector Devang Gandhi told The Telegraph.
The selection committee, in fact, did earlier discuss senior off-spinner Ashwin and leg-spinner Chahal before the Cup squad was announced in Pallekele on Tuesday.
“Ashwin last played an ODI in January 2022 (against South Africa). His fielding is also one issue. As for Chahal, the selectors didn’t find him impressive enough in the West Indies. Hence they couldn’t go ahead with the duo,” a BCCI source said.
