If Ojha and Ashwin's batting skills were reversed, I reckon Arjun would have a different rating of their bowling.
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Pick your best Indian spinners
- Thread starter Arjun
- Start date
Arjun
Cricketer Of The Year
Mishra has played over a hundred FC games. If he isn't the best spinner after Kumble, Harbhajan and Kartik, there's something wrong. Yes, he's sorted himself out and has a decent return, average under 30 He was never given a fair try, first dropped after a flat pitch bore of a Test, then dropped because Dhoni, then missing a match, returned to lead the side, and then dropped after two poor matches in England, virtually permanently. Nobody's been treated so roughly as he has. Ojha, at the time, hadn't even played fifty FC games, and yet Dhoni promoted him as a frontline spinner. This hasn't worked out at all.
Neither Ojha nor Ashwin have been exceptionally good. In fact, both were poor in the recent home series against England, and surely, with calls to axe Gambhir, Sehwag and Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma in ODIs being so common, surely Ojha and Ashwin should also be evaluated? There has to be a precedent set, so that all the spin prospects get an incentive to take more wickets. We don't want Indian spin going the Ashley Giles way.
I don't rate either Ashwin (except as an alternative to Irfan Pathan or Yuvraj Singh) or Ojha, because they were picked ahead of better and more experienced spinners, and have got treated like princes, because they were young. The returns are not there- Panesar, Swann, Ajmal, Herath, Randiv, Nathan Lyon and the new West Indian spinners have done a lot better. Sri Lanka's investment in Mendis didn't work out, so they went back to the older Herath and Randiv. India should do so to.
Then look at this profile for an ODI specialist spinner. He was dropped from the Mumbai squad because he dropped a catch. Then you have Shahbaz Nadeem, who averages nearly 26 and has over 40 wickets in nine games. A first-class prospect, surely.
Neither Ojha nor Ashwin have been exceptionally good. In fact, both were poor in the recent home series against England, and surely, with calls to axe Gambhir, Sehwag and Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma in ODIs being so common, surely Ojha and Ashwin should also be evaluated? There has to be a precedent set, so that all the spin prospects get an incentive to take more wickets. We don't want Indian spin going the Ashley Giles way.
I don't rate either Ashwin (except as an alternative to Irfan Pathan or Yuvraj Singh) or Ojha, because they were picked ahead of better and more experienced spinners, and have got treated like princes, because they were young. The returns are not there- Panesar, Swann, Ajmal, Herath, Randiv, Nathan Lyon and the new West Indian spinners have done a lot better. Sri Lanka's investment in Mendis didn't work out, so they went back to the older Herath and Randiv. India should do so to.
Then look at this profile for an ODI specialist spinner. He was dropped from the Mumbai squad because he dropped a catch. Then you have Shahbaz Nadeem, who averages nearly 26 and has over 40 wickets in nine games. A first-class prospect, surely.
Kartik and Powar might dispute the claim that Mishra was treated more roughly than any other spinner.
Most bowlers with 43 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 43 should expect to get a lengthy spell out of the side. And Ashwin (fastest bowler to 50 wickets or something wasn't he?) and Ojha did really well up till the England series.
I think Ashwin at 6, Dhoni 7, Mishra at 8 with Ojha at 11 has a reasonable look. Classic three different types of spinners.
Most bowlers with 43 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 43 should expect to get a lengthy spell out of the side. And Ashwin (fastest bowler to 50 wickets or something wasn't he?) and Ojha did really well up till the England series.
I think Ashwin at 6, Dhoni 7, Mishra at 8 with Ojha at 11 has a reasonable look. Classic three different types of spinners.
