5 oversees spinners who exploited Indian conditions

Indian pitches have been a paradise for slow bowlers and were particularly designed so when non-sub-continent teams toured India. Until the dawn of the new millennium, pitches were loaded heavily in favour of spinners and often, the job of the pacers was just to get the shine off the ball. However, the ploy has backfired at times and visiting spinners have found the conditions favourable and exploited it well.

We had many surprise names for certain series but to take consistency into account, we’re discussing bowlers with at least 20 wickets and an average below 30 in India. Amusingly, even though a known fact, two of the spin maestros of our times, Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan didn’t make it to the list.

1. Richie Benaud

Richie Benaud, the Aussie legendary leg-spinner was a maverick of the game. He played most of his cricket in unhelpful conditions for a spinner, but boy, when he found assistance from the pitch, he did make it count.

Benaud played a total of 8 matches in India and had an average of 18.38 while picking 52 Indian wickets. He was particularly severe on the Indian batsmen the first time he toured India when he picked up 23 wickets at the rate of 16 runs in 3 wickets. He even picked his best Test figures in the series in 1956-57. A sharp cricketing mind, the Aussie found the Indian conditions to his liking.

Also read- Top 10 wicket-takers in T20 international cricket