Laxman Sivaramakrishnan Suggests A Spin-Bowling Coach To Appoint For India

Former Indian spin-bowler Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has expressed concerns regarding team India’s spin attack. India always have had the reputation of producing some top-notch spin bowlers from ancient times. From Anil Kumble, Bishan Singh Bedi to the likes of Harbhajan Singh and Ravichandran Ashwin, the nation always found a potent combination of spinners.

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The men in blue moved on from Ravichandran Ashwin in the limited-overs after the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, installing Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. While Ravindra Jadeja made a strong comeback and won back his spot in white-ball cricket, Ashwin couldn’t. Meanwhile, the recent limited-overs matches in New Zealand exposed Kuldeep Yadav badly. Not only did the hosts negated him with ease, but they also played attacking shots against him.

Laxman Sivaramakrishnan mentioned that captaincy has become all about limiting the run-flow instead of proactively picking up wickets. He feels that the captain doesn’t place attacking fields like slips or forward short-leg and instead waits for the batsman to commit mistakes. Sivaramakrishnan fears that post the current lot, India might not produce quality spinners.

“I think India need a spin bowling coach. Captaincy has become negative in terms of not giving runs and keeping it tight. You don’t get to see attacking field position to a spinner bowling. That means you are waiting for the batsman to make mistakes and fall in the deep and not in the slips or forward short-leg. In that way I feel spinners are being ignored. The current lot is trying but after this I don’t think we will get good spinners in India.” Sivaramakrishnan stated as quoted by Times of India.

I always performed well under Sunil and not so much under Kapil Dev: Laxman Sivaramakrishnan

Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, who was a spin-bowler himself, explained the contrasting styles of Sunil Gavaskar’s and Kapil Dev’s captaincy. The 54-year old pointed out that Kapil was an instinctive skipper while Gavaskar would specifically mention what he expects from the bowler. Sivaramakrishnan believes that a leader plays a vital role in nurturing any spinner.

“I always performed really well under (Sunil) Gavaskar) and not so much under Kapil Dev. Kapil was a very instinctive captain while Gavaskar was a captain who would plan things, who would tell you what he expects from you. I think captaincy plays an important role in the development of a leg-spinner or any spinner for that matter.” he added.

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