Shivalkar: 'One-day cricket is crippling spinners'

What are the fundamental requirements for a good spinner?
A spinner needs constant practice in line and length and bowling at his target. You don't need strong shoulders or long limbs or anything like that - just accuracy. As far as identifying talent goes, you have to look at whether the boy has a good delivery action and spin. Even spin can be learned. But an instinct for line and length is very important.

Keeping that in mind, how would you rate the left-arm spinners in cricket today?
Daniel Vettori is probably the best left-arm spinner around. Sunil Joshi had a rough time; he just didn't seem to be lucky enough. But he had that arc, he wasn't one of the flatter bowlers. He could induce the batsman to come out and play shots. A bowler needs some element of luck, and Joshi didn't have that. Bowling well is fine, but a batsman could be beaten umpteen times or catches could be dropped or decisions may not go in your favour.

What about Murali Kartik?
Murali is a much flatter bowler. I watched him in the Irani Trophy recently. The wicket was helpful, and he bowled line and length and got wickets, but he was still flat. He is in the reckoning, but he will have to work hard to get that arc and become India's first-choice left-arm spinner. Good flight is very, very difficult to hit, even in one-dayers. If Bishan Bedi were to come and bowl in a one-dayer tomorrow, it would be very difficult to hit him out of the attack. My guru, Vinoo Mankad, used to say: "Shivalkar, good flight is tough to hit. So don't be scared. Learn that."

But isn't it surprising that somebody like Kartik, who by now has even played for India, has not been told at any level of his lack of flight?
He must have been told many times. Even when I spoke to him during the Irani Trophy, when he came to me to get my opinion on how he bowled, I told him. I said: "Murali, you are still quite flat. There has to be an arc. Learn to flight the ball." When you pick a bowler, watch for his control over flight, and for how he gets his wickets. A spinner should be able to get wickets even on good pitches, not just turners, and the way to do that is flight. Control and flight are the permanent weapons for spinners, and those you learn with constant practice. I always say that spinners should be mature before being inducted into the higher levels of cricket.

Do you agree with Bedi's view that Sourav Ganguly does not favour left-arm spinners because they are not effective against left-handers?
I do agree with him. It's like an offspinner bowling to a right-hand batsman; right-handers find it easier to play the offspinner. Cricketers like Ricky Ponting, who had a problem against offspin, learned to play it and started hammering them. A left-arm spinner is an offspinner to a left-hand batsman, so it does become easier for him to play with the break.

But there are more right-hand batsmen playing the game, so shouldn't that be a reason for picking a left-arm spinner?
Absolutely. There are more right-hand batsmen, so you should have a left-arm spinner. In fact, when you have a good offspinner and left-arm spinner in the attack, the captain does not have to worry about what type of batsman is at the crease. As regards Ganguly, I don't know. He probably has his reasons for not favouring left-arm spinners. Maybe he does not think there is anybody good enough, for of course if he gets somebody like Bedi tomorrow, he'll definitely pick him in the side.

Also, unless the spinner is exceedingly good, the captain may drop him in favour of balancing the side. These days, you need a batting line-up until No. 9 or even 10, especially in one-day cricket. So having too many spinners or too many bowlers may upset the balance. That is very essential today, because totals of at least 300 - whether batting first or second - are necessary. That could be another reason why Ganguly does not opt for too many spinners. Harbhajan is good with the bat also, capable of getting 20-30 runs when needed, so Ganguly may not really be interested in more spin options, especially in the one-day game.

Is there a reason why spin coaching in India has not taken off the way pace coaching has?
Well, you have to remember, when we played, we did not have any such academies. Bedi did not go through any academy; neither did Prasanna nor I. We had our seniors to guide us. The experience we acquired by playing with them and against them was tremendous. I don't think the youngsters nowadays get that invaluable experience. The seniors are not available in domestic cricket at all.

The trend of learning bowling has also changed. Earlier everybody learned to toss the ball up and buy wickets, but now they are content with containing the batsman, leaving it to him to make a mistake and get out. That instinct, that desire to get batsmen out is missing. When you're bowling, you have to have the confidence to get the batsman out, never mind what the captain and other players think.

Do you think there is perhaps a mental block that in India, the home of spin, we don't need to coach spin?
Well, nowadays there is a coach for everything, even for fielding! Does a cricketer have to be told how to field the ball? It is cricketing common sense - you have to run fast, chase the ball, and stop the runs. Players in first-class cricket who want to move up the ladder should know all these things; they should not need coaches to tell them. Cricket requires it of you, so you must do it. Why go to a coach? My guru used to say: "Shivalkar, don't copy me. If you do, you will be doomed. Learn your own bowling."

I always give youngsters the example of Ekalavya. I ask them, "Who was Ekalavya's guru?" and they say, "Dronacharya." But was the guru in front of whom he learned his art a live person? No. It was a statue! That is the kind of self-learning I am talking about.

So you don't agree with the concept of specific coaches, or, say, sports psychologists?
Well, possibly not disagree ... I don't think they're necessary. Of course, if such coaches are provided, cricketers should take advantage of it and consult them. No doubt it is helpful as a method to help a cricketer out of difficulties. But it is possible to learn from yourself and from observation. None of the cricketers earlier went through academies; it was merely playing experience that kept on teaching us what we should be doing and what we should not be doing.

Recently I attended a coaching seminar. Many coaches have their particular methods. "This must happen, the leg must go forward, the arm must come down straight and not from the side, you should look from under the shoulder or over the shoulder ..." But Dennis Lillee and Greg Chappell both emphasised one point. If a batsman or a bowler is doing things right out in the middle, don't change him. It doesn't matter if it looks ugly. It doesn't matter if it does not conform to the cricket manual. As long as he is performing out there, that is what is important. If it comes naturally, don't change it.

The best example of that is Paul Adams. If coaches had made him look up and bowl, he may have left cricket altogether. But they saw that even though he was looking down, he was pitching the ball right. That is all that matters.

What will be the newly formed spin panel's role in halting the decline of Indian spin?
The panel is constituted so that whenever the opportunity to help out with spin coaching is provided to these spinners, they take it. For example, I was at a spin camp for six days in Bangalore recently. Prasanna was handling offspinners, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan was dealing with legspinners, and I was handling left-arm spinners. We were there to advise them, to correct whatever flaws we could see with our naked eye and with video footage. Whatever they could fix, they did. But a couple of bowlers there were absolutely side-arm, falling over at the crease, which is not at all good. For a spinner, the weight going forward is all right, but if it goes backward, it does not help. That kind of big change we could not effect in six days, but we did bring about little changes in action, delivery range, things like that.

These cricketers had already been playing cricket for five to 10 years. They have formed their habits, and you cannot change that overnight. They have to consciously help us help themselves. We could see some progress, but six days is not enough for something like this. Which is why we have suggested to the BCCI that the art of spin - for spin bowling is an art - takes a lot of time to cultivate. We in the panel have to be with these youngsters for extended periods of time, to see them practice hour after hour.

That kind of practice is invaluable. In the nets, I used to bowl from batsman number one until the last batsman left. Even during the off-season, I used to bowl solo for one or two hours every day. You need that kind of practice. These boys were doing it at the camp in the nets, but we can't keep tabs on them when they go back to their respective hometowns.

What were the suggestions that the panel discussed in Kolkata and put forward to the BCCI?
We talked mainly about limited-overs games being detrimental to spin. The thing is, these young spinners are scared of being hit, and that fright has to be removed. If a bowler is scared, he is finished. He must have confidence in himself. Only after that will the captain gain confidence in him.

Spinners nowadays are crippled by over-exposure to limited-overs cricket during their formative years. At that age, they do not have the maturity and confidence to continue tossing it up after being hit. They simply down shutters and start bowling flatter and quicker, trying to concede as few runs as possible. Their equally inexperienced captains take spinners out of the attack if they are hit, not realising that they are there to buy wickets.

We also discussed the coaching setup. We insisted that coaches should not try to change the natural action of a young bowler. If a bowler is doing well without necessarily conforming to the norms of coaching, he should be left alone. Like Alf Valentine. He did not have a good action at all, but what mattered was that he always bowled on the spot. Encourage a bowler to bowl better and better with the same action.

I remember a left-arm spinner with a beautiful action who got spoiled. This was when I was a selector, and I told my colleagues not to touch him. "Just don't tell him anything, let him proceed as he is." But coaching spoiled him. He even forgot how to land the ball! That kind of coaching - which nips naturalness in the bud - should be stopped.

After the BCCI working committee meeting, Jagmohan Dalmiya also talked about a network of spin clinics at the domestic level. What was that about?
We have no idea about that right now. Our meeting did not proceed to that level. What we did suggest was that as coaches, we must spend more time with the youngsters and guide them. These other plans, I am sure we will come to know in time.

What about the idea of the spin academy, which has been mooted by the BCCI a few times?
The National Cricket Academy, which has invited me to coach a few times, works with the BCCI, and that could be the first step towards a spin clinic. It will proceed from there. See, a single six-day stint will not do much. But if these stints happen regularly, that may help. Let's wait and see; nothing can be done within a season or two. We have merely started the stone rolling; it has yet to gather moss.

Changing tack, what are your views on the attack that India should field in Australia later this year?
At present, we have only one spinner - Harbhajan. Anil Kumble, unfortunately, is not what he was earlier. He used to be absolutely in control of line and length, but he has now started pitching short, and batsmen can cut him. I hope he reverts to his old ways. If he does - and that should not be difficult for a bowler like Kumble - we could field two spinners.

But Kumble has rarely done well overseas...
Even Harbhajan, for that matter, has not. Our spinners have always done better on home wickets. That again goes back to the component of flight. Prasanna and Chandra, for example, had variations in delivery and had flight as their main weapon on good wickets. Bowlers must learn that. It can be told, but it cannot be taught. You can show him where to pitch, but it is his shoulder that has to turn. That andaaz [idea] of where to pitch can only be obtained by sheer practice. You have to fall in love with bowling. It's hard work, but there is no substitute for it.