India's spin bowling quality has dropped drastically, reckons Murali KartikĀ
Former Indian left-arm spinner Murali Kartik has opined that with time the skill-level of Indian spinners has been going downhill. He even went on to add that many Indian spinners from the past would be turning in their graveyards if they take a look at the present Indian spinners.
Over the years, India's pace bowling has turned into a force across formats and finally, they are able to compete with the best in the world in this regard. However, their traditional strength - spin bowling, hasn't done justice, especially in the shorter-formats. Even in the red-ball format, barring Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, there aren't many spinners who look world-class. From a time when India was known for its spin-quartet, it has been quite a downfall.Ā
Reflecting on the current scenario about spinners in India, Murali Kartik stated that spin bowling has been going downhill as during his times spinning the ball was the first thing that the slower bowlers would learn.
"There are a few issues regarding this. See the quality or skill-wise, you see spin in a certain way. A spinner, as I was told when I first learned spin from Bishan Bedi, was a man that spins the ball. That's the first thing. The art of spin bowling is about pricing out wickets. For that, if you look at skills over the years, it's only been going downhill," Murali Kartik said on The Last Wicket podcast, reported HT.
The famous cricket expert even went on to add that if the great Indian spinners from the past look at the present bowlers, they would start turning in their graveyards.Ā
"Things have changed and with that, the quality has dropped drastically. So if you ask me do we have the kind of spinners which we had, no. As I said, it's only been going down. And I've always said that many former spinners, who used to look at us when we were playing, would have been turning in their graveyards - what are these bowlers? Horrible bowlers." Kartik added.
Interestingly, the last Test series that India played was against England, where the spin duo of R Ashwin and Axar Patel had blown away the English batters. However, the spinners struggled immensely in the white-ball leg of the series. Now, the Indian team will next play New Zealand in the WTC finale followed by the five-match Test series against England.Ā