Saeed Ajmal : The best among the lot

Post the retirement of the big three(Warne, Kumble, Murali) in spin bowling, it has been a dry spell, as far as spinning talent is concerned. Harbhajan Singh, with about 400 wickets to his belt, has slipped off the radar, whereas lefty Daniel Vettori has been missing action more often than not. The new age spinners have a T20 bowling style, nevertheless, some of them have shined above the rest, and definitely, the crafty spinner from Pakistan leads the pack.

It would be unfair to say that he is the best spinner in the world, hands down. There are many talented spinners in the world around, but all have their own weakness.

Let us consider our very own R Ashwin. After coming into limelight by bowling in powerplay overs for CSK in IPL, Ashwin has showed that he has the potential to become a world-class test spinner too. Ashwin, who bowls with a peculiar delivary stride, mainly uses the traditional off-spin as his weapon. But his speciality has always been his carrom ball, which he has been able to master and use it intelligently. But his main problem has been his high economy rate. When he gets going, he cannot be stopped, but if it is not his day, he might be end up being the worst among the lot. The current Indiavs Australia is a clear example to justify my argument. So, it would be unfair to consider him as the world’s best.

And then comes our traditional offie, Graeme Swann. Swann, who bowls with a fluid bowling action, is considered one of the best traditional spinners to play in recent times. He has been the spinning mainstay of the English side. He relies on bounce and extracts juice off the footmarks on the pitch. Yes, he does turn the ball a long way, but his main problem has been lack of variations. With such a fluid action, it is impossible for him to bowl a doosra, and hence other wrist related variations. Though he is among the best, but according to me, he is not the best.

And then comes our West Indies spinner, who according to me is the second best by a small margin, is Sunil Narine. Narine is basically a bowler who relies on minute variations to tempt the batsman make the mistake. He is not a great spinner of the ball, but his consistent line and length, and his array of variations has made him dangerous. With a similar bowling style of Mendis, his mystery was expected to fizz out sooner than later. But he has adjusted well according to the demands of the situation, and has risen to one of the best limited overs bowlers, and also a good test match bowler, in recent times.

Narine is good, but not as good as Ajmal. Ajmal, in my opinion, is the best spinner in cricket today. Not only he turns the ball squarely in turning pitches, his deadly weapon, the doosra, has made him impossible to read. With a bowling style in the mould of Saqlain Mushtaq, he has mastered the art of doosra bowling, and even the best of the best cannot read it properly(remember Sachin struggling in the World Cup Semi Finals?). Thus his array of variations, and also the ability to spin the ball a long way, has made him the world class spinner he is now. Though he is having a moderate series in UAE against South Africa, his talent and abilities cannot be doubted. Though he is in the wrong side of the thirties, he still has some cricket left in him, and he will be the face of spin bowling atleast for a few more years.