With Mankad in the team don't see the need for two LH spinners, especially with a leg spinner already selected.
I agree. Two of them is a luxury. Plus they both take the ball away from the right hander (and in to the left hander). It would be better to have a bowler to take the ball away from the left hander so a an off spinner and a left armer makes more sense not least because Prasanna was the biggest spinner of them all. Until Murali came on the scene, one had not seen a finger spinner make the ball turn as much as he did - and even on the flattest of decks. It is a fact, that Prasanna could get tuen out of every conceivable surface, just as Murali could. On top of that was the bounce he extracted which though mentioned, isn't explained by Bailey,
Prasanna, like Murali, threw the viciously spinning ball up in the air and this combination of the height (maximum height in the flight curve) from which the ball came down and the grip it got from the surface with the vicious turn that made it sit up. This is a different bounce than the taller spinners like Kumble get, Then with variations in flight and spin they, both Murali and Prasanna, could also vary the amount of bounce off the deck, making the precise point of contact between bat and ball so very difficult for the batsman to decide upon. Misjudging the line and/or lateral movement makes the ball hit the edges (or miss altogether) instead of the middle and misjudging the bounce and/or length makes him hit it in the air. That is why bowlers like Murali and Prasanna present bigger head aches to batsmen.
I have always struggled to choose the spinners for an all time Indian side. Gupte, Mankad, Prasanna, Chandra, Bedi and Kumble present an embarrassment of riches. It is like choosing between Wes Hall, Andy Roberts, Mike Holding and Malcolm Marshall for Windies. Going for our favourites/heroes makes it easier but not necessarily the correct and considered choice. The younger lot never leaves out Marshall and the older will often have Wes Hall in the mix. Its the same if asked to choose a pace attack from Spofforth, Lindwall, Miller, Lillee, MacGrath (Miller being the Mankad in that mix
). Those who would choose Spofforth are all dead or dying while MacGrath's fans are alive, kicking and very excited about his exploits. This is always going to be the case. That is why the need to take a step back, try to be objective and, at the end of the day, carry those proverbial dollops of salt.
Bedser, in selecting te Post war sides for all the test playing countries says something very important.
. . . the art of selecting teams may be compared to umpiring - the best make the fewer mistakes. A selector needs judgment and experience, and a thing called luck.
So coming back to the choice of an Indian attack what I do is this. I decide whether I want a balanced attack or a spin attack plus Kapil. Mostly, when in a serious mood, I choose the latter, Which means I have an attack that is headed by either Kapil and Nissar or Kapil and Amar Singh. Sometimes, to make the audience happy I have gone with Kapil and Srinath too - kidding.
I like the idea of having five bowlers (including the all rounder/s) so that leaves me with three spinners to choose from Gupte, Prasanna, Chandrashekhar, Bedi, Kumble and the all rounder Mankad.
The choice of Mankad depends on the balance of the side. If I had Kapil and Amar Singh to open the attack (you have not considered this awesome bowler and very gifted all rounder which is unfair in my humble opinion) and if my wicket keeper is a good batsman as well (I will never choose Dhoni for he is a bad keeper - period) then I might not consider Mankad unless I want him to open the batting. So this is a bit of a tricky balancing act.
Note : BTW, I think against top class bowling Engineer would fare better than Dhoni in Test matches - definitely against fast bowling which is what will get thrown at Dhoni by all ATG sides.
If we do not want Mankad and I had to choose three specialist spinners I would unhesitatingly go with Gupte, Prasanna and Bedi. I leave out Chandra for his unpredictability and he would get murdered by the likes of Bradman and Hammond (we will play ATG sides from other countries presumably). Of course, he could deliver you both Bradman and Hammond in a trice as well. It is the choice between Doug Wright and Clarrie Grimmett for me and I choose Grimmett all though I realise Wright is under-rated and a great match winner.
I leave out another great leggie to the shock of everyone around in Kumble. I do so because of his dependence over a long period, on domestic surfaces to really shine. I am not denying his awesome performances but this does rankle and it does with many others trust me. People don't just want to say it for it raises everyone else's hackles.
That leaves me with three spinners that cover all conceivable variations of the spinning ball from the legbreak and brilliantly disguised googly to the vicious off spin with turn and bounce (plus the away floater) and the highly nuanced slow left arm spin with such magical control over length, pace and spin which was so subtle that the only way to know it existed was to face up to it (I was lucky enough to have played Bishan both in the nets and a few games in the DDCA league). So my three spinners are a good choice with a rider - they are all bunnies and poor fielders. The bottom half of this side would read like . . .
- Gavaskar
- Merchant/Sehwag
- Hazare/Dravid
- Tendulkar
- Dravid/Hazare
- Kapil
- Amar Singh
- Engineer
- Prasanna
- Bedi
- Gupte
The batting would look worse if one removed Amar Singh and brought in Srinath. By the way, Amar Singh was one of the greatest fielders India has ever produced.
The tail still looks long to you? Kapil at six and Amar Singh at seven with three number elevens makes you uncomfortable? What do you do.
This is where we start making compromises - always keeping five bowlers in mind. There are many permutations and combinations.
If one looks at a side and divides it into :-
- Top order (1-2-3)
- Upper middle order (4-5-6)
- Lower middle order (7-8)
- Tail (9-10-11)
Generally these would consist . . .
- The specialist bowlers and the specialist keeper - in the tail. - At least one if not two of them capable of hanging around
- The bowling all rounder and the batsman keeper - in the lower middle order. both capable of fities and the occasional hundred.
- The specialist batsmen and the batting all rounder - in the upper middle order - Ideally all good enough to be in the side for batting alone.
- Only specialist batsmen on the top order.
Of course there will be exceptions to the rule. You could have a Sobers and a Kallis in the top order and be comfortable. But Mankad or Engineer are a bit of a compromise even though both have opened in Tests with fair to good degree of success.
