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Journalism of Courage
Over the last couple of seasons, Indian cricket has found itself in an unusual position. The pace bowling cupboard was full but there were no replacements in sight for Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. Now, with Mishra making a telling comeback, the focus has shifted to young spin hopefuls in action at the Challenger in Cuttack. The first game, between India Blue and India Red, saw a fair amount of turn and bounce.
While Chawla failed to make a mark, Gujarat off-spinner Monish Parmar, Delhi leg-spinner Chetnya Nanda and Tamil Nadu off-spinner R Ashwin all gave good accounts of themselves in the tournament opener.
Is this a turnaround in fortunes? Or is it too early to say?
Erapalli Prasanna, the head of the National Cricket Academy’s (NCA) spin wing, has closely followed the young spinners’ journey. “There’ve always been good spinners in the country but we’ve never had good guiding facilities. The NCA has seen young spinners learning the ropes fast and the results are showing.”
Of the lot, Parmar’s case is a little sensitive. The off-spinner, who bowls with an action similar to Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan’s, was reported for chucking during the under-19 World Cup and had to undergo corrective measures at the NCA.
Nanda’s good showing, both here and in the Irani Cup game, has come as a pleasant surprise, considering that he was picked for this tournament as a late replacement for Mishra, who is on national duty.
But Bishen Singh Bedi warns that it’s too early to celebrate. “They’ve done well so far. But we give them some more time instead of saying so-and-so is India material. Let’s closely follow how they perform instead of going overboard,” Bedi said.
