Jadeja and Ashwin will only improve under Anil Kumble: Sunil Joshi

Former India spinner Sunil Joshi feels that the presence of Anil Kumble as the head coach will further help the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin to flourish. India is currently going through a successful time in Test cricket and much of the success is mainly due to the attacking spin attack of Ashwin and Jadeja.

“Ashwin is a smart cricketer. And he’s only going to improve under the guidance of Anil Kumble. Not only him, all spinners benefit from the brains and experience of Kumble. There’s no better person than him to guide them at this moment,” said the Joshi who bowled with the current India coach in the 90’s.

Many feel that T20 cricket has taken away the charm from spin bowlers. Spinners continue to play a significant role for their team but they now tend to resort to defensive tactics, bowling a flatter trajectory compared to the spinners of the bygone era. However, Joshi sees this as natural evolution only. The 46-year-old doesn’t see T20s as detrimental to a spinner’s growth.

“It all depends on the need of the hour. In T20 cricket, it is to restrict runs and bowl more dot balls. So it is quite understandable that bowlers bowl much flatter these days. But if you look at someone like Jadeja, he bowls slower in Tests compared to limited overs,” he said.

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“I don’t think playing T20s affect a bowler’s skills in a negative way. By playing more matches, bowlers learn to adapt to different formats. If flighting the ball is one’s strength, it doesn’t change whether he’s playing Tests, one-day or T20s,” Joshi said.

Joshi, though, admits that at the junior level, there’s a dearth of spinners.

“There’s a shortage of spin bowlers in domestic cricket. But things are bound to improve. It helps that at the NCA, we have Narendra Hirwani as a coach. And at the grassroots level, we need to find youngsters with talent and work on them throughout the year,” said Joshi.

The late ’90s was a time when pinch-hitters were fashionable. Joshi was one of the designated hitmen for India and he was often promoted up the order in ODIs to give an impetus to the scoring. Reminded of those days, Joshi had a laugh.

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“The mindset in one-day cricket has changed. Now everyone has to attack. Earlier, teams were looking to play more aggressively during the 15-over powerplay. Now throughout the innings, they look to go after the bowling.”