Swann: Purposeful Without Hogging Limelight

He was regarded as an off-spinner who never really did spin the ball but to silence all this critics, Graeme Swann of England has risen to be a very effective ‘spin’ bowler. Some analysts might comment that the word ‘slow’ should be used instead of ‘spin’ but considering the negligible amount of any worthwhile spin that is extracted by spinners in contemporary cricket, such differentiation is uncalled for. Swann is a different type of bowler, using more drift in the air than spin off the pitch. This makes him very different from the likes of Mendis or Harbhajan Singh who are essentially finger spinners. Muralitharan’s name should not be used here because he is in a category of his own.
However, if all the other spinners are compared at the moment, Swann seems to be the most quiet and unassuming of the achievers with little being said about him in the media and little or no on-field antics — a quiet, consistent performer. Swann has already totalled more than 52 wickets in just 13 test matches. You would need to remember that he has done so without playing on sub-continental wickets. He has always come in when the side wanted to contain runs rather than get wickets and surprisingly, Swann has managed to do both with little fuss. I would personally rank Swann a bit ahead of Bhajji, simply because he has been taking wickets consistently and his bowling is improving with nearly every outing. His immediate competitor seems to be Saeed Ajmal of Pakistan who is a more traditional off-spinner, keeping it slower in the air, and giving the ball a chance to rip-off the surface of the pitch. Further, Swann has the amazing ability to bowl decently with newish balls too. His arm-ball and the drifter that turns into a low-yorker like delivery haven’t been decoded by many batsmen and his recent fiver against the South Africa is testament to his growing stature.

Any surprises for India ODI team against Lankans?

I am not expecting much in terms of any new faces being inducted in the Indian team that is soon to take upon Lankans in an ODI and T20 series. The fact is that there are some very impressive faces in the domestic scene but it is up to the selectors to be brave enough to try-out some of these. Rajat Bhatia and Virat Kohli's name came to the fore. Both belong to Delhi and bring the same type of street-smart cricket that has been shown by the likes of Gambhir and Sehewag. Hoping that Rohit Sharma does not get another chance simply because he has done anything really impressive when playing in domestic matches. It would be worth a try to give Praveen Kumar more chances to perform as an all-rounder. In terms of spinners, Ojha could be used to give Bhajji a much-needed rest but then Bhajji has been contributing with the bat and Ojha is your typical number 11 who just cannot put bat to ball.

Dead pitches are hurting India badly

The ongoing test series between Sri Lanka and India is ample proof of how the game's administrators are slowly killing the game. Anyone who watched the first test match would say that the number of runs being scored are bordering on the excessvie and there needs to be some sort of answerability from the authorities who approve of such dud pitches. Just to add one thing, the last two test matches against the Lankans that yielded results and were partially reponsible for helping India scale the number one ranking in test cricket too weren't the best in terms of providing equaly opportunities to both sides. I feel that the Barbourne stadium was still pretty decent but apart from that the entire series has been a letdown in terms of providing little assistance to the bowlers. Lankans got out mainly due to the pressure of the massive totals that Indians piled on them rather than Bhajji turning the ball square or the pithc weathering on day four - five. There have been all sorts of suggestions by former cricketers who have been harping on the same issue of increasing the number of test matches played by teams like India and Sri Lanka, but there is a need to address the issue that only result-oriented test cricket needs to be promoted. If this means providing slightly under-prepared pitches where the top surface comes-off on the fourth day, then be it... at least, the spectators, both at home and in the stadium will have something to cheer for. Such pitches will make batting survival intersting for a change and even maidens bowled at attacking batsmen would become watchable. We all hear about former opening batsmen talking about pitches in the West Indies during the 80s, where it was sure that you would get hit in on the helment and every Caribbean tour was looked upon as a test of survival..yes, the Calypso bowlers were great too, but then their efficiency took upon scary proportions due to the nature of playing strip and that is what we need - to put some fear back into the batsmen.