New Zealand have humiliated India in India, clinching an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ongoing three-match Test series. After 12 years, India’s unbeaten streak at home has come to an end, and with one more Test remaining at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Indian fans are growing anxious about the team’s form – especially with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia on the horizon and their place in another World Test Championship final uncertain. In an exclusive chat with Boria Majumdar, RevSportz Editor-in-Chief, former India cricketer and chief selector MSK Prasad shared insights on the team’s struggles against spin, the quality of spinners moving forward, the futures of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, and the challenges ahead in Australia.
Boria: What has happened in the last few years that we do not play spin well? What is the problem?
Prasad: I would like to remind you that in the last few years – maybe 14-15 years, ever since the IPL has come – slowly, there is a switch of players’ mindsets from red-ball cricket to white-ball cricket. Ever since that switch has come, everybody wants to play white-ball cricket and eventually play IPL, but not for India. That is a big, alarming thing.
I think a few years ago, in an under-19 World Cup camp, a questionnaire was given to the under-19 team asking what were their goals? 80 per cent of them had written IPL, but not Indian team. Do not you think that is a big, alarming situation for team India? See, if the whole thing is changing towards that direction of playing white-ball cricket, obviously, the results are going to happen like this only because nobody wants to play.
People have lost that art of playing spin, art of playing swing bowling. They just want to play with hard hands. They just want to hit through the line. Respect your format that you are playing.
All these kinds of mindsets, whether Sachin [Tendulkar] would have accepted it? Whether Saurav [Ganguly] would have accepted it, or other legendary cricketers? No, of course not. They all played different formats, but they switched their games according to the formats. This is really missing right now and that is very, very clearly evident with the results that we are seeing right now.
Boria: What is this fancy shot? I mean, you play 20 balls as dot balls. How does it matter? I am baffled by the approach. Your thoughts?
Prasad: That is not happening just at international level. Can you believe some of the players are talking about strike-rates in Ranji Trophy? Strike-rates in India A cricket? The talent scouts will go just to keep watching irrespective of the format and in order to please them, the players just start playing for the crowd to get their contracts for their franchise.
That is why it is a very alarming situation which BCCI has to wake up to. Not only BCCI, I am telling you, going forward, the way things are moving, even the ICC also has to wake up in order to protect Test cricket. Test matches are finishing in three days. There is a debate going on that why not Test matches be reduced to four days. The format that has been in for the last 120-130 years and the charm of playing all five days, you want to reduce that. It is definitely because you are moving towards the white ball-cricket.
I do not agree with that. We have to come out with some solution to protect one of the most beautiful formats in any sport. I do not think any other sport in the world is played over a period of five days. I think it is a beautiful thing which really needs to be protected.
Boria: Why rank turners? When you have people like Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, quality spinners in your side, why is it that India have to prepare a rank turner?
Prasad: Every country always tries to stick to their own strength. When you go to Australia, they give their kind of surfaces. When you go to New Zealand and England, they prefer to play in the conditions which are suitable to them. So, it is a myth today that we are playing spin very well, and it is a spin-friendly country and we bat well against spin.
But gone are those days where we used to play hours together to get even that 253 runs on the board. But that is not happening, and we are no more a spin-friendly country. We might see if you really look at the quality of spinners, people beating the batsmen,, probably Jadeja and Ashwin will be the last generation of those quality spinners.
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“Hundred per cent Pujara should have been in the team” – MSK Prasad backs @cheteshwar1.
The former chief selector for BCCI explains why Indians aren’t playing spin well and how it is being noticed in domestic cricket as well!
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After that, we will always be looking at people who will be mystery sort of bowlers or people who will bowl six different variations in a test match. Slowly, even in domestic cricket, you do not get quality spinners today. I have been a talent head for quite some time, I have never seen any spinner beating the batsman in the flight. So, everybody wants to bowl flat because they are thinking about their economy rate, which is a shocking thing in a Ranji Trophy match. I would not mind giving 100 runs and picking up five wickets.
You would have been very happy if you had given up 120 runs and picked five wickets. So, things are changing and, see, in India, we are supposed to produce a battery of spinners. If you are not facing quality spinners at home, and suddenly quality spinners come from away, this is exactly what is happening.
Boria: Who are the people I or anyone should watch when it comes to spinners? Who are the people? Do you see anyone coming up the ranks?
Prasad: I think Saumy Pandey and Manav Suthar are good examples. They are absolutely fantastic, a lot to watch out for. But having said that, everybody is changing. They might start as a quality spinner at maybe under-16, under-19 levels, but as they keep progressing, eventually, everybody wants to play IPL. So, they change their action. They think about not beating the batsmen. They think about the economy rates. They think about how to fool the batsmen, how to bowl a number of dot balls.
Even in Ranji Trophy team meetings, these are the discussions that are happening, which is a shocking thing. I do understand if you are talking about bowling 30-35 dot balls, you will win a T20 game. But what about Test cricket? Why are you thinking of dot balls? Why are you thinking of batsmen playing a defensive sort of a game? Legendary [Sunil] Gavaskar has got unbelievable runs by staying on the wicket, and looking at him, several thousands of cricketers have evolved.
Boria: Should Pujara have been brought back for BGT?
Prasad: 100 percent. Pujara should have been in this, especially the kind of form he is in. Had everybody been in very good form, probably we would have accepted that someone like Ajinkya or Pujara, it is time to move on.
But we should also look at the form and we should also look at those players who had that character to stick on. It is Pujara, and hats off to this great man. The other day, he got a 243 in a game.
Maybe a youngster might feel pressure, but at this time, whenever a guy like Pujara stands on the pitch, it is the pressure on the opposition because a lot of Australians have always felt very happy seeing Pujara going back to the pavilion. I know that our bowlers have done extremely well in 2018. Batters have done well.
But we have won both the Test series thanks to Pujara and we should not forget the contribution. See, in county cricket, especially early part of summer, we know what kind of weather it is. He got runs there. He comes back to India, gets runs in Indian domestic cricket and we are up for a very important Test series after losing against New Zealand. So, taking all these things into consideration, I felt that Pujara should have found a place. Once a guy like Pujara is on the crease, it gives a lot of confidence to the players sitting in the dressing room.
Boria: Do you give us a chance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy? How do you set that kind of series up for me?
Prasad: See, in all fairness, when we went in 2018, we had a fantastic experience and we deserved to win and deservingly won that series. 2021 was a big surprise. When seven of our superstars were missing, due to several reasons, and still we went on to win that series.
So, whenever you are pushed into the wall, that always brings the best out of Indians, whether it is on or off the field. So now that after losing a series against New Zealand, I think we will regroup, and especially the senior cricketers, like Virat or Rohit or Bumrah, should take the onus on themselves and give their best shot.
I do not know whether they will travel to Australia next time, but it is a great opportunity. It will be a great tribute for all these senior cricketers if they put their right foot forward and give their best performance. When seven superstars are not there, we still went on to win that series.
So why not with a mix of both youngsters and seniors? The selectors have picked their side. Unfortunately, Shami and Pujara’s absence will be felt. But still, I still have hope that the seniors will step up.
Boria: Are both Virat and Rohit nearing the end of their careers? Are you worried about Virat and Rohit’s form at this point in time in red ball?
Prasad: See, both the quality cricketers that we are talking about have always come up strong after a poor series. So, I firmly believe that Virat will be like a duck getting into water when he goes to Australia. So is Rohit. We saw Rohit getting tons and tons of runs in England and other countries. So, I have no doubt.
I know that these two players are struggling a bit against the spin. Today, we are not struggling against pace and bounce, unlike the past. We are struggling against the quality spin, not struggling against the pace and bounce.
Probably in India also, we have some of the pitches which are on par with international standards in Australia, hard and bouncy. So, we are well-equipped to play pace and bounce, and I am 100 per cent sure that will bring the best out of our players in Australia.
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