Indian batsemn have not demolished left arm spinners in recent times. Giles, Vettori, Panesar, Paul Adams and even Boje and Michael Clarke have all been pesky at worst, and even threatening on the odd occasion. Will Paul Harris share similarly moderate success and tie the batsmen down like Giles, run through them like Clarke? Or will Ganguly be able to treat him with the same disdain he held Murali Kartik in?
11 comments:
This has more to do with maintaining their reputation as good players of spin.
Very rarely have Indians taken a spinner apart. The last occassion was Tendulkar manhandling Warne.
OTT
actually it was sidhu who did the damage upfront and presented warne on platter to srt & co. to manhandle him...
its only that SRT being bigger & greater player gets more notice...
Its to be linked up to the emergence of the new India- if they are going to continue in the mould that they demonstrated in Australia, and seriously believe that they can become the best side in the world, that attitude must reflect in their demolition of any spinner that plays against us - given our art is playing spin. It is a question of making a statement, rather than proving ability. Unfortunately, I dont see either Saurav or Dravid taking the attack to the spinners- maybe Tendulakr and Dhoni will
Left arm spinners are easy to deal with.
Just attack their wrist with a crowbar in some alley.
No wonder you're an Atheist, Atheist.
TM, there is also the question of exploring how good Indian batsmen actually are, against good spin bowling. Tendulkar showed glimpses of this when he would not let Hogg settle down. But at the same time, Ganguly kept gifting his wicket away to what JRod calls the Save The Tongue Foundation.
Losing wickets in a heap to part timers Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke at Sydney was also ridiculous, no matter how bad the umpiring, we are supposed to be so good against good spin that these guys weren't even supposed to have a chance.
Apart from Sehwag, we rarely see an Indian test bat use his feet to go down the track against spinners. This was evident in the way Monty was able to tie down the Indian scoring rate in England.
But Ganguly brought that back when he faced Kaneria, but that was only after he was very well set.
Ganguly remains the best bet to demolish Harris. Apart from Tendulkar that is. As long as he does not use the dirty and negative Giles tricks.
Well sai John- unfortunately, the only way to stop India in India seems to be to tie up one end with left arm spin, set in and out fields, and wait for the mistake. I think that is exactly what Harris is going to do. The point of playing spin is not just in dancing down the track (while that is the prettiest)- the art lies in negating spin, hitting inside out, swepping, paddle swepping and forcing the spinner to bowl a line and length that is not required of him. If you want my opinion, the most accomplished player of spin in our test side is V.V.S, who does everything but play the paddle sweep. I think Ganguly's dismissal to Giles in that England one day match when he holed out at deep mid wicket may make him think about it twice-enough doubt to ensure his dismissal if he does try it. But I look forard to this new Tendulkar who is taking apart the spinner like th old Tendulkar. In any event, should be fascinating to watch!
That has been a problem with India. Good observation John, Ott.
Regarding SLOs, could it be that the disdain has prevented bats from being exposed to them adequately in the nets?
The trouble with SLOs began with the negative lines Lanka began bowling in the aftermath of their WC victory. Never came to grips after that...India.
I'm pretty sure harris couldn't get most of us out.
Can't tell John... haven't seen enough of Harris... on left arm spinners... well Hogg was taken apart but they don't think the team's boast on playing spin sounds solid off late... they have been slipping.
Looks like Paul Strang. Now, who's that?
He made quite an impression in Pakistan, been getting some good batsmen out in the subcontinent.
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