India's next lead spinner - Error 404 Not Found

India’s next lead spinner – Error 404 Not Found: India’s squad for the Sri Lankan Test series was announced, unchanged from that which travelled Bangladesh except Karn Sharma being replaced by a 32-year old Amit Mishra who last played for the Blues in August 2011 – a squad that already features a 35-year old Harbhajan Singh that made his comeback after a two-year period just recently.

“Amit Mishra has always been part of our thinking,” India’s chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil talking about Amit Mishra’s return. “If you remember, even last year he was in the reserves [for the West Indies series]. The final authority of picking the XI is the role of the captain and the team management. Why A was not played and why B was picked it is not what we get into. Looking at the conditions, we have picked him for this SL tour.”

Ravi Ashwin has been doing quite well to keep his place in the test squad intact. Ageing spinners making comebacks, as his spin partners, for a side to the top-level of cricket could be a sign of:

a) They worked hard enough to earn their places back or,

b) The country has failed to produce their next lead spinner.

Analyzing the recent Ranji Trophy records of both the spinners rule out the possibility of ‘a’ as the offie picked up only 6 wickets in 3 games (taking three in a single innings) that he played while the leggie could only manage 10 wickets in six games (taking five in a single innings).

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Many claim that the inclusion of both the senior spinners were mainly due to their performance in the IPL – festival cricket, and the social media hype thereafter created by the Indian fans. But, is 10-12 games of 20-over cricket enough to pick up the ‘lead spinner’ for your Test side?

The sad part is: None of the renowned spinners made any kind of mark in the premier first-class tournament.

Coming to second of the possible reasons-

b) The country has failed to produce their next lead spinner, this reason somehow proves true because if we analyze the Ranji Trophy records for the last five seasons, there isn’t a single spinner that has made a substantial mark and picked wickets consistently.

Each of them dominated a season, vanished in the next.

If the observations are taken to a broader point, the spinners dominating Ranji Trophy in wicket’s column has taken a huge dent over the past five years. Bhargav Bhatt, a slow left-arm orthodox spinner, made a huge impact in his debut FC season where he was the highest wicket-taker with 47 wickets in 9 games.

Next two seasons, the lead spinner was the 4^th highest in overall standings which dipped to a record low 10^th from the leading wicket-taker in the most recent 2014/15 season. This could be explained by the fact that BCCI has been preparing seam-friendly pitches for the last two seasons but a dip such low, quite a shame!

Records and Stats provided, India has failed in search of its next ‘big’ spinner and the spin-talent pool seems to have lost somewhere which was once a weapon of India’s arsenal. Oldies like Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra will continue to make comebacks after comebacks unless or until remarkable steps are taken to find a spinner, worthy of earning the blue cap. Or atleast the leading wicket-taker in Ranji is given a shot at the international level.