India batting legend Sachin Tendulkar has smashed many bowlers to pulp during his playing days but even he couldn’t contain himself after another batting carnival in the guise of an ODI match in England put the spotlight on the plight of bowlers.
England collected a world-record 481-6 in the third ODI against Australia before chasing down 311 inside 45 overs in the fourth. The ease with with England’s top-order scored the runs underlined their status as the No1 ODI team in the world but also highlighted the fact that bowlers simply have nowhere to hide in ODI cricket.
Tendulkar tweeted that the two-new balls in ODI cricket is making it next to impossible for fast bowlers to generate any kind of reverse swing. His views were supported by Pakistan legend Waqar Younis and many across the globe.
Indeed, reverse swing has all but vanished from ODI cricket. That’s because the ball only gets 25 overs old at the most, which is the time when the ball used to start to reverse.
Pacers, therefore, have been forced to bring out new variations – wide yorkers and knuckle balls. Straight yorkers and slower ones are simply not enough anymore. And if the seamer doesn’t have enough pace, then good luck to him.
But the bigger casualty during the unchecked rise of runathons in ODIs is finger spin.
Reason why we don’t produce many attacking fast bowlers..They all very defensive in their approach...always looking for change ups..totally agree with you @sachin_rt reverse swing is almost vanished.. #SAD https://t.co/hPHoMXujcr
— Waqar Younis (@waqyounis99) June 21, 2018
Since 2015, there have been eight scores of 400 or more in ODIs. Before that, there were 11 in all. And in the last three years, finger spinners have been all but wiped off the map of ODI bowling.
Among active cricketers, the top wicket-taker among finger spinners is Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi. His 58 wickets from 47 games place him on 13th position in the wicket-takers’ list. And he is not even a frontline spinner.
The next finger spinner on the list is Kiwi Mitchell Santner on 15th with 52 wickets from 48 games. Sadly Santner is out for a long time due to a knee injury.
England’s Moeen Ali is the next ‘active’ finger spinner on the list of wicket-takers over the last three years – 47 wickets from 56 games on 17th position.
We are clutching at straws here. Names like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have been left far behind. Rangana Herath is a master spinner but he doesn’t play limited overs cricket even in Sri Lanka.
If you do bowl finger spin, you better offer a lot with the bat. Which is why Nabi, Santner and Moeen are on the list. Players like Ashwin and Jadeja won’t be given 50 odd ODI matches in the first place.
Two new balls mean finger spinners don’t get to bowl with a scuffed up ball, which in turn makes most of them canon fodder for batsmen who don’t believe in the concept of middle overs in ODI cricket anymore.
So as the game progresses and reverse swing becomes a thing of the past in white ball cricket, let’s also take a moment mourn the demise of finger spin in ODI cricket.
