'It is a little concerning that there is no leg spinner in the team' - Danish Kaneria on India's WTC and England series squad

Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria has expressed that team India might have got it wrong when they selected four finger spinners for their tour of England. India will play the ICC World Test Championship final and subsequently play in the five-match Test series. For these two events, India has gone with their specialist Test bowlers. 

The Indian selectors chose right-arm off-spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Washington Sundar while also picking left-arm offspinners, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Kaneria, however, felt that India has covered all bases, except the fact that they haven’t picked any right-arm leg spinner or wrist spinner.

Kaneria, who had played some cricket at country level, expressed that a leg spinner is quite useful in conditions that suit seamers. Seam movement is basically the purchase the ball gets after pitching and the movement which is produced due to the ball’s interaction with the pitch. Kaneria, who himself was a leg spinner, believes that having a wrist spinner can create an impact. 

Having a finger spinner and a wrist spinner can make an impact: Danish Kaneria

“Where there are seam conditions, a leg spinner is very useful and that’s why I had a successful tenure when I played county cricket. So, it is a little concerning that there is no leg spinner in the team. Finger spinners can contain but having a finger spinner and a wrist spinner can make an impact on the team,” Kaneria said and was quoted by Hindustan Times. 

Having said that, when it comes to wrist spinners, at the Test level, India has only tried Kuldeep Yadav. Yuzvendra Chahal has not played a lot of first-class cricket while the same is the case with Rahul Chahar. The trio of spinners have been around the Indian ODI and T20I squad, but haven’t really been able to get through to the longest format. Kaneria pointed out some issues with Chahal and also recommended Chahar as someone who can be groomed for Test cricket. 

“(White ball specialist) Yuzvendra Chahal is a senior bowler but he is struggling with form, Kuldeep Yadav is lacking confidence so Chahar is one player, who can be groomed for Test cricket as well and he can be very useful,” Kaneria further said. 

Famous Indian cricketers who turned Politicians