‘I wish we had more five-dayers’

Former Test off-spinner Erapalli Prasanna remains one of the greats of the modern game. He spoke to The Indian Express on India’s spin ...

Former Test off-spinner Erapalli Prasanna remains one of the greats of the modern game. He spoke to The Indian Express on India’s spin options ahead of the upcoming season.

Don’t we depend on just two spinners — Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh — at the moment?
Why not? The two of them have done well and there should be total trust on them for the moment. Kumble and Harbhajan should perform well at home against New Zealand. Abroad we’ll have to go with just one or two spinners. There’s no room for more.

But surely Kumble isn’t the force he used to be, even in India?
We have only seen him in action in ODIs. Let him play some Tests and then decide whether he should be continued with or not.

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What about the next set that we need to create some competition for the slots?
Amit Mishra, Ramesh Powar, Murali Karthik, et al are being discussed. The problem is that I have only seen them in ODIs. I wish we had more top-level five-day games where they can perform. Powar should focus on ODIs because he is an all-rounder. An all-rounder is better for one-day games, while you need a specialist in Tests.

In ODIs you can only restrict the batsmen. In Tests, you need bowlers who will try to take wickets over a number of spells. We need another spinner when we play in India, but I don’t know who.

We keep talking about the standard of spin bowling in India having dipped. How things have changed now from when you played?
The attitude of the spinners has definitely changed. Because of more ODIs, spinners today are more restrictive. I don’t see many bowlers trying to attack and take wickets. Spinners should attack the stumps or bowl so that his field will come into play. But youngsters don’t do that and that’s why the success rate has gone down. Muttiah Muralitharan is the only off-spinner today who sticks to the basics — attack the batsman. That’s why he is the best.

But Harbhajan appears exactly the kind of bowler you want.
He’s also playing more ODIs than Tests and trying to be restrictive.

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What would your recipe be then, apart from asking spinners to attack more?
That’s the only recipe. In Tests, the team that dictates terms is the team that bowls well after the first 15 overs. We don’t have good seamers, so we have to turn to our spinners, and if the spinners can’t attack and wait for batsmen to make mistakes, no recipe can work.

But isn’t our current seam attack far better than before?
Better fast bowlers, but not better seamers. I am talking about cutting the ball. None of these guys can cut the ball and that’s all you can do after the ball becomes old. We have to use spin to attack the batsmen.