Aclean action is the essence of good bowling. Indeed, getting the youngsters to follow the right method while releasing the ball is among the foremost challenges for Sunil Subramanium.
In his prime he was a match-winning spinner for Tamil Nadu. The lanky left-armer scalped 285 batsmen in 74 first class matches at 23.53 with an admirable strike rate of 57.9. Sunil posed a severe test to those facing him with his precision, bounce and aggression.
Now, as the head coach of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) Academy's Spin Wing, the 44-year-old Sunil is keen to ensure that the aspirants do not succumb to the lure of ‘chucking.'
He feels the problem should be spotted at the grass-root level. “The spinners at the formative stage tend to extract the most from the ball and the pitch and the bowling elbow is often bent and straightened in the process.”
The most vulnerable
Sunil adds the off-spinners are the most vulnerable. “It is very difficult to chuck if you are a genuine leg-spinner. And considering cricket is a game dominated by right-handers, the left-arm spinners can spin the ball away and are less tempted towards an illegal action.”
He says, “For the off-spinners though, the right-hander can always use his bat or pad as the second line of defence for the stock ball that spins in. It is here that they try to spin the ball away and end up throwing the ball. It is impossible to bowl the doosra with a clean action.”
Sunil explains, “You see, bowlers such as Erapalli Prasanna and S. Venkataraghavan could get the ball to drift away from the right-hander with a perfectly legal action. If an off-spinner uses his body at the point of release, does not use his spinning fingers and releases the ball from a firm wrist, the delivery will drift away. Actually, a left-arm spinner employs similar methods to deliver the arm ball to the right-hander.”
He throws more light on the subject. “For a spinner to make this happen, he has to pivot and bowl from a side-on position. A front-on release is not recommended for spinners and enhances the prospects of a bowler adopting an illegal action. Actually, I would not even prefer a semi-open release.”
The former Tamil Nadu spinner opines, “It is the back-foot landing, the pre-delivery stride, where a bowler's action can be corrected. If the load-up happens before the pre-delivery stride, the leading shoulder tends to open out increasing the chances of a bowler throwing. It's vital that the coaches step in here because the young spinners would still not have developed muscle memory.”
According to Sunil, momentum, strength at the crease and the ability to think their way out of tough situations are the key ingredients for budding spinners.
Sunil says the ICC should make it mandatory for all bowlers to operate wearing short sleeves which would make it hard for them to hide the bending and straightening of the arm.
He does not see great merit in a bowler's action being corrected in a laboratory. “The bowler will be conscious that his action is being monitored. You should evaluate his release in a match situation, particularly when he, taking punishment, bowls under pressure.”
Role of mentoring
The former left-arm spinner stresses the role of mentoring. “S. Vasudevan, an exceptional left-arm spinner and a wonderful human being, was my mentor. I am so happy that he has now joined the TNCA academy as a coach.” Sunil also highlights the contribution of the Tamil Nadu Ranji Trophy team's cricket manager, R.I. Palani, in his emergence as a coach.
Importantly, Sunil is optimistic about the State producing competent spinners with legitimate bowling actions.
