Shamik Chakrabarty in Dubai
Kuldeep Yadav tossed it up in the air and lured Salman Agha out of his crease. It was a conventional left-arm wrist-spin delivery, but Kuldeep had bowled it slower through the air. And then, the ball dipped, catching the batsman in no-man’s land. By that time, Agha’s attempted flick over square leg had become the wrong option. As the ball turned after pitching and took the leading edge, he was a dead man walking. By Ravindra Jadeja’s standards, the catch at cover-point was a dolly.
Jadeja himself was at the centre of action before Agha’s dismissal, bowling a peach to Tayyab Tahir. The ball turned just enough to beat the outside edge.
Pakistan batsmen were at the receiving end of India’s spin-bowling masterclass in the Champions Trophy match against their arch-rivals, but the Indian spinners can do that to more accomplished players.
“Credit goes to Kuldeep, Axar (Patel) and Jadeja who all have played a lot,” Rohit Sharma had said at the post-match presentation after winning against Pakistan.
Moving on from an overhyped fixture, which has become boringly one-sided of late, India will face an opponent of real quality on March 2 – their final group league game in the ongoing Champions Trophy. Both India and New Zealand have already qualified for the semi-finals, but the match could well be a dress rehearsal for the final. On a Dubai slow turner, it could also be a battle of the spinners.
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On the face of it, Matchell Santner, Michael Bracewell and Glenn Phillips fall short of the Indian spin trio of Jadeja, Kuldeep and Axar, in terms of skill sets and achievements. Santner, New Zealand’s most experienced spinner, has 120 wickets from 115 ODIs. The combined wickets tally of Bracewell and Phillips in this format is 45. In comparison, Jadeja alone has 227 scalps from 201 games. Kuldeep and Axar have 177 and 70 wickets respectively in the 50-over format. There, though, is a back story.
When New Zealand came to India in October-November last year for a three-Test series, nobody expected their spinners to hold sway to the extent of inflicting a whitewash on the hosts. Together, Santner, Phillips and Ajaz Patel accounted for 36 Indian wickets in that series. In comparison, the Indian spin quartet of Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar, Jadeja and Kuldeep had 44 scalps between them at a higher average and a worse strike-rate. The snakepits, especially in Pune and Mumbai, narrowed the gap between the two sets of spinners, as the India team management erred badly in their pitch selections. On a good surface, the common belief is that the Indian spinners will outclass their Kiwis counterparts. The Dubai pitch will not turn square and this is a different format, where the slow bowlers will not have the advantage of having close-in catchers.
The counter argument is that the current crop of New Zealand batsmen are better players against spin compared to their Indian counterparts. Even a few years ago, if someone had said this, he/she would have been laughed out of the room. But the fact of the matter is that this group of Indian batsmen struggle against the turning ball when the pitch is a little tricky and the spinners are asking tough questions. It happened in the ODI series in Sri Lanka last year, before Santner & Co laid bare the tattered fabric of India’s red-ball batting.
In comparison, Rachin Ravindra, Will Young and Devon Conway look a lot more assured in terms of countering spin. And there is always going to be the class of Kane Williamson.
Rachin, fresh from his hundred against Bangladesh, is probably the most improved batsman in the world over the past 18-odd months. The way he gave his teammates the template to neutralise the spin threat in India – never allow the spinners to settle into a rhythm – was fascinating.
So, at the end of the day, it is going to be a battle of equals in Dubai between two sides who are title contenders.
Also Read: New Zealand’s Mastery of Adaptation Sets the Stage for Another Epic Battle With India