How wrist spin became an in-thing with aspiring spinners

A look at junior cricket (U-16 and below) gives us the premise to conclude that leg-spin or wrist-spin is a preferred craft among aspiring spinners or spinning all-rounders

Kumar Kartikeya was having a good run with the Madhya Pradesh senior State side in red-ball cricket, but the spinner wanted to be more than just a regular slow left-arm orthodox. Of course, his coach, Sanjay Bharadwaj of the renowned LB Shastri Cricket Club, was a catalyst behind this thinking, but the primary reason for wanting to add more variety to his bowling was the demands of T20 cricket, which is unforgiving if you are a one-trick pony.

So, the UP-born bowler decided to add left-arm wrist spin to his arsenal. “In the T20 game, if I bowl normal left-arm spin, there is a greater chance of being hit. But if I bowl deliveries that batsmen can’t read which way it’s turning, then it’s not so easy to hit,” Kartikeya had told ESPNcricinfo in an interview.

Now, Kartikeya’s profile on the same website describes him as “slow left-arm orthodox, left-arm wrist spin.”

What Kartikeya has done with his bowling hasn’t become a trend yet, but a look at junior cricket (U-16 and below) gives us the premise to conclude that leg-spin or wrist-spin is the in-thing among aspiring spinners or spinning all-rounders.

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A Karnataka Under-14 selector says that out of 14-15 spinners or spinning all-rounders the panel picked for trials to form the state team, a dozen turned out to be leggies or left-arm wrist spinners. The selector, also a former Karnataka all-rounder, points to IPL as the reason behind this gravitation towards one of the most difficult arts to master in cricket.

The franchises’ preference for wrist spinners, based on the evidence of the recent IPL players’ mini-auction, appears to justify the selector’s observation, for out of eight pure spinners bought by different franchises, seven were wrist spinners and only one; Akael Hosein of West Indies, is a left-arm finger spinner.

“100 percent,” asserts Irfan Sait of Karnataka Institute of Cricket when asked if he has noticed this trend. “I am struggling to find an off-spinner, even in my senior team. Everyone wants to take the ball away (from right-handers). We do try and tell them that there are left-handed batters as well but increasingly, kids are attracted towards wrist spin. Even among pacers, there is a tendency to bowl only outswingers because they are difficult to hit or there are more chances of edging behind the wickets.”

That perhaps explains why slow left-arm orthodox bowlers are the second most preferred tribe among spinners. There are 17 left-arm spinners, who take the ball away from right-handers, in the IPL, as opposed to 13 off-break bowlers.

Sait too believes that IPL is responsible for this situation. “They see someone like Rashid Khan and want to become like him. During my interaction with kids, I have also noticed that they get influenced by commentators who are also former players of repute. Them emphasising the importance of taking the ball away is having an impact on young minds,” he notices.

Sait says that this phenomenon isn’t restricted to Karnataka. It’s the same in most parts of the country and abroad. Citing his experience of coaching stints in Atlanta and California, Sait points out that out of two dozen spinners in the two camps combined, there were only three off-spinners. “And one of them was a girl.”

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Former India left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi, who till recently served as a national selector, admits to the trend but has his reservations. “There may be a fascination to become a leg-spinner, I don’t deny that, but I have my own concerns. Whether kids are taking to wrist spin on their own or under some influence, I am not sure but one should impress upon these kids that it’s not an easy skill to develop. When you are 14 or 15, your bones are softer and wrists are supple, so you get some early success if you get things right. But as you grow, your bones become harder and wrists stiffer and you will have to put in double the work you did in your younger days. If you don’t, you will lose out,” observes Joshi, who has been appointed as the spin bowling coach of Punjab Kings.

While agreeing that wrist spinners definitely are wicket-taking bowlers, an IPL scout with a high-profile franchise says there is no monopoly of wrist spinners. “If you look at the number of left-arm orthodox spinners, it’s big as well because there are more right-handed batters in the game. But I certainly agree that off-break bowlers have become a rare commodity. Barring R Ashwin, Washington Sundar or Jayant Yadav, you don’t have many of them coming through.”

Dwelling further on the preference for wrist spinners, the scout says, “the reason why wrist spinners are preferred more is because they can bowl both away going (leg-spin) and incoming (googly) deliveries with equal efficacy. Left-arm spinners do take the ball away (from right-handers) but with the advent of reverse-hit and switch-hit, they have also been forced to improvise to stay relevant.”

Kartikeya has already done it and many may follow suit. After all, sport, like everything else in life, runs on a demand and supply basis.