Did both Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni suffer lack of conviction in taking the field with two specialist spinners?
Kohli reasoned that Karn Sharma looked the best in net sessions prior to the first Test and hence he opted for the tyro leg spinner for a ‘drop-in’ pitch at Adelaide, and Dhoni hinted that he would have preferred Ravindra Jadeja ahead of R. Ashwin before the Brisbane Test, had he not been ailing from a shoulder injury.
The lack of confidence in Ashwin — after he took 41 wickets in India’s 4-0 (29 wickets) and 2-0 (12 wickets) home series wins against Australia and the West Indies — stemmed from the off-spinner’s wicketless 42 overs he sent down in the drawn Test at the Wanderers, Johannesburg, in December 2013. Dhoni chose Jadeja for the Kingsmead Test and his six for 138 off 58.2 overs perhaps firmed up the skipper’s belief that if it was just a single spinner, it would be the Saurashtra left arm spinner.
Jadeja was a straight-forward fit for both Tests in New Zealand. His figures were one for 120 (26 overs) in the first innings of the first Test that New Zealand won by 40 runs at Auckland. He had figures of 0 for 12 (two overs) and 1 for 115 (52 overs) in the second Test at Wellington.
Dhoni’s faith in Jadeja was unmitigated as he was chosen for the Trent Bridge Test, where the wicket, according to experts, was more like Kolkata or Chennai than a typical English green-top. Jadeja bowled 35 overs for 80 runs without any return.
In the Lord’s Test, made memorable by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma, Jadeja’s analysis of two for 46 (18.5) and one for 53 (32.2) was an improvement and he followed it up with two for 153 (45.4) and three for 52 (10.4) at Southampton where India lost by 266 runs.
At Old Trafford, where India lost by an innings and 54 runs, Dhoni fielded two spinners; Jadeja’s figures were 13.3-1-36-1 and Ashwin’s 14-1-29-0 when the seamers conceded 285 in England’s 367. Ashwin was the lone spinner for the last Test at the Oval and he impressed with three for 72 (21.3).
Karn Sharma’s two for 143 from 33 overs and two for 95 from 16 overs at Adelaide did not win him another chance in ongoing series. It would have been unreasonable to expect him to outwit the Australians at home alone. However, bowling in tandem with Ashwin, India may have just got a winning start. That opportunity was squandered.
The seamers averaged between 60 and 85 in the first innings and between 42 and 47.50 in the second at Adelaide. It’s was time to think of options, mainly running a double spin attack.
Ashwin has bowled well within himself and has played his ‘containing’ part as demanded by his captain. Anil Kumble has rightly asked if the team management who played Sharma in the first Test lost confidence in him in a month’s time.
Pakistan spinners Zulfiqar Babar (14 wickets) and Yasir Shah (12), both rookies, and Mohammad Hafeez (4), took 30 wickets in the two Test series played at Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Perhaps India could have looked at the scoreboard of this series, even if it was played non-Australian conditions.
Spinners, Australians or otherwise, have succeeded in Australia. They have together taken 3990 wickets (2245 by Australians). 21 Indian spinners have taken 272 wickets.
