Does Indian Lack Quality Spinners?
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Does Indian lack quality spinners?

MBA Student

It comes as a whiff of fresh air when a senior India cricketer, who has been there and done that, makes an effort to speak honestly about the game.

Sachin Tendulkar did that last season when he spoke about the need for the Ranji Trophy knockout games to be played on a home-and-away basis. This time, it is VVS Laxman who has gone on record saying "India does not have any bench strength in the spin department and the country is struggling to find quality spinners."

Laxman's worries deserve a hearing. For starters, here's a bit of disturbing information that the board can check out. A young spinner (who doesn't want to be named for obvious reasons) is in the Board's list of 42 bowlers with suspect action.

The youngster feels he is talented but a victim of board's unfair ways. At the age of 18, he is ready to argue that if Harbhajan Singh's action is fine, then so is his. At his age, he knows he's wrong but he is more adamant about why Harbhajan is where he is while a young "aspiring" spinner is targeted.

Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi guffawed when asked for his views. "These are unpleasant discussions and nobody wants unpleasant discussions," he says. "That's how the administration is."

lull before the storm.

Player Facts

42: Number of players in the list of bowlers with suspect action

Available talent as per domestic records (2008-09, 2009-10): Piyush Chawla, Ravindra Jadeja, Iqbal Abdulla, Mannan Sharma, Harpreet Singh, R Ashwin

Young spinners in Ranji (Among top 10):

2009-10: Iqbal Abdulla and Piyush Chawla with 32 wickets apiece

2008-09: Ravindra Jadeja (42), Mohnish Parmar (41; suspect)

2007-08: None

Men in charge:

Ravi Shastri: Chairman, National Cricket Academy (NCA)

R Sridhar: Spin bowling coach at the NCA

Raghuram Bhat: Spin bowling coach at MAC Foundation, Chennai and former NCA coach

"Piyush Chawla is good but he has a technical defect with his front-arm action. Someone needs to spend time with him and work on his action," feels former India spinner Maninder Singh.

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