Decline in quality of offspinners in India

G Viswanath, writing in the Hindu, says the BCCI's clampdown on bowlers with suspect actions in the current domestic season has contributed to the below-par performance of offspinners.

This ought to be seen as an unhappy development in a country for which this type of finger spinners — with the ball breaking into the batsman’s body allied with flight and line and length variations with a high intelligence quotient of the practioners — have played a distinguished part and has been regarded as an important cog in the wheel of India’s bowling arrangement.

The decline of quality off-break bowlers has been a gradual feature in the last two decades and in this season the sheer anxiety of being called for illegal action has eliminated this particular facet of the game in India.