Save our spinners

Four greats: Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Bishan Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan in Kolkata

The SOS - school for spinners - was announced by none other than Jagmohan Dalmiya, India's cricket supremo, and 12 past and present greats answered the call and assembled in Kolkata at the weekend to mull over the problem of where India's next generation of slow bowlers will come from.

Whereas India was once famed for producing any number of world-class spinners, now the cupboard is looking bare. In the 1960s and early '70s India could chose from four top slow bowlers - Bishan Bedi, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan - but in the past 20 years only three (Anil Kumble, Ravi Shastri and Harbhajan Singh) have been near the same class. Shastri is long gone, and Kumble is regarded by many to be nearing the end.

So Dalmiya convened a Spinners Panel to address the problem, and there was no shortage of advice as to what is needed. "We were once the masters of spin, so I want to know why it has become a decaying art," explained Dalmiya. "This meeting was held to try and figure out the methods to arrest the decline of quality spin bowling in the country."

Chandrasekhar blamed one-day cricket for the situation. "Spinners don't dare to tease batsmen to get their wickets now," he lamented. "In our times, we used to bowl with a ring of close-in fielders. But in one-dayers, spinners don't get such a field. We've to groom youngsters to revive the art of spin. It's a fact that only a few quality spinners are coming up these days."

Venkataraghavan was in no doubt that the matter should have been addressed much sooner, but added that it was not too late. "If we start working earnestly, we can still do a lot for budding spinners," he said, adding that there was not a shortage of talent but that it had to be harvested. "We have to educate the youngsters how to perform at the highest level."

Bapu Nadkarni, who took 88 wickets in the 1950s AND '60S, argued that the decline was cyclical. "The dominance of spin and pace in the world of cricket takes place in a cycle," he said. " Now if you look at world cricket you will see a revival of spin bowling, as almost all the teams have world class spinners in their ranks."

At the end of the five-hour discussion the meeting recommended that a special National Cricket Academy spin panel be established to identify and nature young talent, and that players under 17 be restricted from taking part in limited-overs matches.