Spin trio formula a blast from the past

The sight of traumatised, visibly nervy batsmen facing terrific turners and crouching fielders brought back memories of the 90s and India’s great run at home when Wadekar was coach. Kumble was still around in those days, of course, but Rajesh Chauhan and Venkatpathy Raju played the role of Bhajji and Kartik.

In the 15 Tests they all played together, Kumble, Raju and Chauhan — with a haul of 142 wickets between them — helped India win 10 Tests. Including matches against England, Australia, West Indies and New Zealand.

This winning combination was finally broken in 1997-98, when Chauhan was pulled up for suspect action.

The turn of the century saw things change; the rising pace power and the corresponding lack of quality spinners saw Team India change its gameplan. It now opted for ‘two pacers – two spinners’. From the last home series against Australia in 2001, India has gone with three different spinners on only two occasions— both times during the final Test against the Aussies, at Chennai in 2001 (Harbhajan, Nilesh Kulkarni and Sairaj Bahutule) and this match.

Of course the three-spinner plan was responsible for India’s great success in the early 1970s, under Wadekar’s captaincy. That was the classic trio of Bishan Singh Bedi (left), Erapalli Prasana (offie) and Chandrashekhar (leggie).

However, this tried and tested ploy has one drawback — which was responsible for it being done away with. Easy wins at home, on spin-friendly pitches, were offset by the harsh reality of playing away, on less conducive pitches. This, and the all-round professionalism that came with the Ganguly-Wright era, meant three spinners was a crowd.

The Classic trio — Bedi, Pras, Chandra — proved themselves abroad too. So with Kartik finally complimenting Harbhajan and Kumble it seems an option worth trying overseas. But it would be a gamble — and however would you keep out Balaji, Pathan and Zaheer?