Dearth of off-spinners

Tauseef Ahmed reckons T20 cricket has destroyed the art

Pakistan once had quality off-spinners at the First-Class and international levels but since the departure of Saeed Ajmal, the art seems to have died down in the country.

In fact, not just in Pakistan, there seems to be a global scarcity of off-spinners. One of the reasons for this is probably the limitation of 15 degrees bend of the bowling arm in international cricket. Another factor could also be the popularity of T20 cricket, where leg-spinners are considered more effective than off-spinners.

However, if we look around, few are mastering the art, such as Australia’s Nathan Lyon who has set his benchmark as the greatest-ever from his country, while India’s Ravichandran Ashwin is celebrated as an all-format bowler. Meanwhile, England’s Moeen Ali is also regarded as one of England’s best in white-ball cricket.

Apart from them, hardly any side has a quality off-spinner. They rather induct an all-rounder, with the ability to bowl occasionally than play a regular off-spinner.

Leg-spinners, on the other hand, have the upper hand across formats and since the game has become more attacking, they have made a room for themselves as they are the best wicket-taking options.

Ever since Ajmal, who ruled the cricketing world with his individual brilliance, was banned for bending his arm more than 15 degrees, Pakistan is struggling to find his replacement.

Although another Pakistani off-spinner Sajid Khan showed glimpses of his potential in international cricket, he has looked too promising to the think tank.

According to Pakistan’s former off-spinner Tauseef Ahmed, the short format of the game has restricted off-spinners role in cricket as they look to save runs, rather than taking wickets and for that, they look to bowl quick in a channel and not turn the ball.

Karachi-born Ahmed represented Pakistan from 1980 to 1993. He took seven wickets in his debut and was an integral part of Pakistan’s famous victory in Bengaluru against India. Overall, he played 34 Tests and 70 ODIs, where he took 93 and 55 wickets, respectively.

He believes that a quality off-spinner always looks to turn the ball using his finger, instead of depending on the pitch only.

“The amount of pain your fingers can bear defines your quality as an off-spinner,” said Ahmed while talking to Bol News. “Bowling over after over continuously is the key.”

Tauseef also advised Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to organise a camp, especially for off-spinners where they fine-tune them for the competitive stage.

“Pakistan has more challenges compared to other nations. Currently, New Zealand has Michael Bracewell, who is playing across formats. Unfortunately, we are lacking behind. We have started to rely on all-rounders rather than regular spinners more,” he maintained.

The former Pakistani off-spinner also slammed former management under Ramiz Raja who initiated Pakistan Junior League, arguing that T20 cricket bars spinners to learn as they bowl four overs only.

“T20 should not be played at the junior level. It’s unfair because a spinner is bound to concede runs. You are not preparing them for longer formats by doing this,” he said.

Quoting his own example, Ahmed emphasised the dire need for the bowlers to bowl longer spells.

“Club cricket helped me as my goal was to bowl continuously from one end,” he reminisced.

The 64-year-old wants off-spinners to first learn the basics of the trade rather than going for variations like doosra. He gave the example of Lyon who relies only on off-spin and varies his pace for wickets.

“Ever since the variations like Doosra and Teesra came, players have shifted their focus,” he mentioned. “You got to first learn the main art – that is off-spin. Nathan Lyon takes wickets without any variations. He tries to deceive batters by varying his pace. Off-spinners have now forgotten to turn the ball.”

Meanwhile, Tauseef contended that players should not be allowed to pick and choose formats by themselves, adding that the best players for each format should be picked by the management. He claimed that playing shorter format is easier and involves a lot of money, so players tend to incline towards it. On the other hand, Test cricket requires better fitness, which is why young cricketers opt to avoid it.

“Shaheen got injured and we were exposed, our bowling finished. We gave Test caps to T20 players, who are good but Test cricket demands much more labour from bowlers,” he stated.

Ahmed also addressed Pakistan batters’ difficulty in reading spinners, which is quite unlike former Pakistan batters. Players in the recent past like Inzamam Ul Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan and even Shoaib Malik were quality spin players. However, currently, there is hardly one in the team who can dominate these slow bowlers.

“Not just Babar Azam, all batters are struggling against spin. Even left-arm spinners are giving us a tough time. Babar still can’t read the googly,” he said. “Apart from Rashid Khan, every other leg-spinner’s hand is readable.”

He concluded by suggesting that the Pakistani batters need to watch videos of spinners to improve their technique and find a way to score runs against them.