Iqbal Abdulla is having a lazy, late afternoon lunch in his hotel on the team’s off day. Ask the left-arm spinner about India’s next opponents South Africa — who were still on the field playing West Indies at the time — and he gives a naughty grin. “Spin mein thoda gadbad hai unka,” he says casually. A few hours later, South Africa just about chased down the modest 222 set by the West Indies. They lost seven wickets — six batsmen falling to spin, two of them to left-arm slow bowler Verrasammy Permaul. Iqbal’s prophetic gadbad assessment at lunch proves spot on.Iqbal had been licking his lips then — it was either the lavish five-star spread or the prospect of getting the ball in hand tomorrow. With three wickets in the first game and a spin-phobic team up next, things are shaping up well for him in Malaysia.“The South Africans have a problem with spin,” says the 18-year-old from Azamgarh, who moved to Mumbai four years ago to pursue his cricket career. “We toured South Africa recently and I finished with 11 wickets in ODIs. They get confused by a combination of flight and arm-ball variations,” says the frequent flying teenager.Iqbal is expected to have another left-arm spinner for company tomorrow — Ravindra Jadeja — and it remains to be seen how the South African players deal with the left-left combination. There’s more in common between these youngsters than their trade — there’s also the confidence in their ability that has seen them move from small towns to the international cricketing highway. Jadeja says that since his early days in cricket, he had a picture of left-arm spin poster boy Daniel Vettori in his room at Jamnagar. Iqbal has an interesting story as well. When in primary school, Iqbal was asked in class what he wanted to be when he grew up. “I told my teacher I want to be a Test cricketer.” Iqbal’s answer had his class splits. “Maybe I was the odd one out in a class of future doctors and engineers.”Back to the present, and there’s more riding on this spin couple than just tomorrow’s game or the World Cup. Rakesh Parikh, the junior team selector from the West Zone, confesses that there aren’t many colts in India’s spin stable. “We’re getting pacers, but spin is a problem. There isn’t a quality offie on the junior circuit so this squad is without one. A lot is expected from the left-armers,” Parikh said.The senior selectors have complained about the lack of options in the left-arm spin department for some time now, so much so that MS Dhoni had to drag Murali Kartik out of the commentary box and play him against Australia at home. Despite his success, Kartik failed to find a place in the squad for the Australian tour and India bank on Yuvraj Singh for the slow orthodox variety. Both Iqbal and Jadeja know that this is their big chance to get noticed. Jadeja, in fact, is confident of his team’s entry into the final. “I have just six games to prove myself.” Those six being the three group games, the quarters, semis and the final! Iqbal also mentions another incentive to do well here. “The IPL teams will be decided very soon, so we know what is at stake for us.”
