Derek Underwood never played in India during the 1960s. Instead he toured from 1972 to 1982 and had to contend with batsman such as Gavaskar, Viswanath, Amarnath, and Kapil Dev. I don't think that Murali or Warne had it any tougher than Underwood as I can't imagine the pitches or hot weather being much different. But a local might be able to correct me on that.
As for Gibbs, well he had to try and bowl out the likes of Roy, Contractor, Umrigar, Manjrekar, Borde, Pataudi, Engineer, Gavaskar and Viswanath between 1958 and 1975. That task might be a little easier, but not much so. And again, had the Indian pitches really changed that much between the late 50s and 00s ?
Perhaps we are concentrating too much on Murali and Warne and automatically assuming them to be significantly superior to other ATG spinners. But from what I can make out (admittedly briefly), there is a reasonable case for preferring Underwood in Indian conditions.
