Best Players of Spin

[Kenneth Viljoen]

47 in the last 10. Did plenty well in SA.

So if he's in form , what will he average by the end of the year ?

 

[capt_Luffy]

So if he's in form , what will he average by the end of the year ?

How can I say that really?? Played 2 Tests till now. The ongoing Bangladesh Test and the last Test vs SA. I honestly think BGT will reveal that, as well as the NZ series.

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

How can I say that really?? Played 2 Tests till now. The ongoing Bangladesh Test and the last Test vs SA. I honestly think BGT will reveal that, as well as the NZ series.

Make a call, you are saying he's back with a lot of confidence ..

Right now his average is 48.74 will it be higher or lower when the year ends ?

 

[capt_Luffy]

Make a call, you are saying he's back with a lot of confidence ..

Right now his average is 48.74 will it be higher or lower when the year ends ?

Lower.

 

[ankitj]

Hate to see Sidhu's name whenever best players of spin come up.

 

[sayon basak]

How can I say that really?? Played 2 Tests till now. The ongoing Bangladesh Test and the last Test vs SA. I honestly think BGT will reveal that, as well as the NZ series.

By some intuition and voodoo rituals.

 

[Arachnodouche]

Hate to see Sidhu's name whenever best players of spin come up.

It's something of a meme because he was good at jumping out to hit spinners out of the ground. But nobody in that era was really anything other than a very good player of spin. Even bit players like Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia were more than capable of milking the slow stuff, while Sachin, Siddhu, Azhar, Kambli, etc could all dominate at will. Beggars belief how far our skills have fallen in that regard, giving away big hauls to rookie visiting spinners like clockwork these last fifteen years.

 

[ankitj]

It's something of a meme because he was good at jumping out to hit spinners out of the ground. But nobody in that era was really anything other than a very good player of spin. Even bit players like Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia were more than capable of milking the slow stuff, while Sachin, Siddhu, Azhar, Kambli, etc could all dominate at will. Beggars belief how far our skills have fallen in that regard, giving away big hauls to rookie visiting spinners like clockwork these last fifteen years.

My objection with Sidhu's inclusion is that he just didn't have the class of other great names. He probably had one great series each against Warne and pre-greatness Murali. We have no evidence that he would have succeeded upon repeated examination from those spinners or if he would have succeeded against other innovators like Saqlain and Mendis. I would bet my money that he would have come out looking much poorer than Tendulkar and Sehwag if he played 10-15 years of high class spin. His career doesn't show any evidence that he had the patience, inventiveness and tenacity to keep reinventing his game against varied challenges.

 

[Arachnodouche]

My objection with Sidhu's inclusion is that he just didn't have the class of other great names. He probably had one great series each against Warne and pre-greatness Murali. We have no evidence that he would have succeeded upon repeated examination from those spinners or if he would have succeeded against other innovators like Saqlain and Mendis. I would bet my money that he would have come out looking much poorer than Tendulkar and Sehwag if he played 10-15 years of high class spin. His career doesn't show any evidence that he had the patience, inventiveness and tenacity to keep reinventing his game against varied challenges.

I can only go on what impression of him memory's preserved but he never appeared troubled by spin and would transform from becalmed to belligerent in no time. Not particularly inventive like you say - no sweeps that I recall, no deft touch either - but a solid judge of trajectory and light on his feet for a big man.

 

[Xix2565]

Beggars belief how far our skills have fallen in that regard, giving away big hauls to rookie visiting spinners like clockwork these last fifteen years.

Again, nostalgia merchants shouldn't make objective statements on faulty assumptions.

 

[Thala_0710]

Again, nostalgia merchants shouldn't make objective statements on faulty assumptions.

Saying that Sidhu, Azhar, Kambli, Sachin, Sehwag, Laxman etc were much better players of spin than most of the Indian batsmen in the past decade isn't being a nostalgia merchant imo. It is quite clear to see the standards have fallen a bit. For the large part Pujara was a pretty good player of spin, Raina although he only played a handful of tests was pretty good too. However, all in all there has been a clear decline in quality of spin play by the Indians

 

[capt_Luffy]

Saying that Sidhu, Azhar, Kambli, Sachin, Sehwag, Laxman etc were much better players of spin than most of the Indian batsmen in the past decade isn't being a nostalgia merchant imo. It is quite clear to see the standards have fallen a bit. For the large part Pujara was a pretty good player of spin, Raina although he only played a handful of tests was pretty good too. However, all in all there has been a clear decline in quality of spin play by the Indians

Agree. As we all except that both Indian spin and especially pace are much superior in that decade, we should also acknowledge that batting quality in general and standard of playing spin in particular have fallen. Pujara was very good, Kohli was good (though the worst among the fab 4), Rohit was good; that's pretty much covers every good spin player to have played long. Tendulkar, Sehwag, even Laxman, were in a different tier against spin.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Agree. As we all except that both Indian spin and especially pace are much superior in that decade, we should also acknowledge that batting quality in general and standard of playing spin in particular have fallen. Pujara was very good, Kohli was good (though the worst among the fab 4), Rohit was good; that's pretty much covers every good spin player to have played long. Tendulkar, Sehwag, even Laxman, were in a different tier against spin.

Pant is brilliant vs spin.

 

[capt_Luffy]

Pant is brilliant vs spin.

Yeah, forgot him.

 

[Xix2565]

Saying that Sidhu, Azhar, Kambli, Sachin, Sehwag, Laxman etc were much better players of spin than most of the Indian batsmen in the past decade isn't being a nostalgia merchant imo. It is quite clear to see the standards have fallen a bit. For the large part Pujara was a pretty good player of spin, Raina although he only played a handful of tests was pretty good too. However, all in all there has been a clear decline in quality of spin play by the Indians

Sachin, Sehwag and Dravid are the only real answers here. Rest would be just as clueless as Kohli and co vs modern day spinners on spinning tracks with DRS. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Sachin, Sehwag and Dravid are the only real answers here. Rest would be just as clueless as Kohli and co vs modern day spinners on spinning tracks with DRS. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

Not sure if serious. Laxman Sidhu Azhar were amazing players of spin. Ganguly too who he didn't name.

 

[subshakerz]

Sehwag is a better player of spin than Lara.

Lara admitted himself h struggled against flatter bowlers of spin like Saqlain, Harbi and Kumble.

Sehwag didn't have those issues.

 

[Xix2565]

Not sure if serious. Laxman Sidhu Azhar were amazing players of spin. Ganguly too who he didn't name.

Kohli/Pujara/Rohit/etc are also great players of spin. It's just that playing spin now, especially on juiced up surfaces is far more tricky than it was for a lot of those players. So having them rated so highly is bizarre to me because they never had to adjust to the new level of difficulty modern players face.

 

[Arachnodouche]

lol Kohli is terrible against spin. All hard hands and no footwork other than that impulsive forward lunge. But hey, just to be sure, I'll bring out my petri dish and chronometer and get back to you with an objective analysis of that assumption.

 

[capt_Luffy]

lol Kohli is terrible against spin. All hard hands and no footwork other than that impulsive forward lunge. But hey, just to be sure, I'll bring out my petri dish and chronometer and get back to you with an objective analysis of that assumption.

I think Kohli "terrible" against spin is a pretty big stretch, ignoring when he scored runs regularly, he did so against everyone almost everywhere. His techniques has issues against spin, and he isn't one great player of spin, but he is far from terrible, let alone bad.