How much is too much? Or, in this instance, how many are too many?
We are talking, of course, about India fielding four frontline spinners in their XI for the first of two Tests against South Africa, at Kolkata’s celebrated Eden Gardens.
The last time India employed four spinners in a five-day game was on Ravindra Jadeja’s Test debut, against England in Nagpur in December 2012. Going into the fourth and final Test, India trailed 1-2 and believed their best chance of ending up with honours even was to unleash a four-pronged spin attack, which is how Jadeja linked up with Pragyan Ojha, R Ashwin and Piyush Chawla. A dead-as-a-dodo VCA Stadium surface thwarted India’s designs of forcing victory, the match petering out into a tame draw as the four tweakers took a combined 11 wickets from 254.5 overs.
There was little indication even 20 hours before the start of the game that India were seriously contemplating playing all four spinners available to Shubman Gill. On match eve, the skipper had indicated that the toss-up was between an all-rounder and a spinner , which is why to see all four of their names on the team sheet was a massive surprise.
To accommodate a fourth spinning option – Axar, let’s say, because he didn’t figure in India’s last Test, against West Indies in Delhi last month – the think-tank benched Sai Sudharsan, the left-handed No. 3 from Chennai. Another left-handed No. 3 from Chennai took his place in the batting order, and while no one is questioning Washington’s credentials – he did uncork a match-saving century from No. 5 in Manchester just three and a half months back – where does that leave Sudharsan, who produced the highest Test score (87) of his fledgling career just four weeks back?
Four spinners in a six-man bowling pack is a massive luxury that India could only afford because three of that quartet – Washington, Axar and Ravindra Jadeja – are all genuine all-rounders. Their presence lends heft to the bowling and weight and depth to the batting, indisputably. And while they will almost certainly have a greater say in the second innings than in the first, where Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj took seven wickets between them, does that end justify the means?
Should India rethink their strategy?
India’s leadership group has been set and stubborn in its ways, with the sustained desire to pack the side with multiple batting and bowling options putting the specialists on notice. Their stated penchant for batting depth compelled them to take conservative bowling options in England even when the conditions cried out in Leeds and Birmingham, if not in Manchester, for an attacking resource. That’s why Shardul Thakur and Nitish Kumar Reddy got look-ins, and that’s how Washington won the nod ahead of Kuldeep. And here we are, within a couple of months, discussing the prudence of stacking an XI with four spinners, no matter how skilled and proven they might be.
India might insist Washington is playing in this game as a batter who can bowl a bit, but one can’t go from a frontline spinner to a support act in four weeks’ time. Maybe in these conditions, they are treating Washington and Axar, playing his first Test since February 2024, together as one bowling entity. If that is the case, the thinking is at best addled, the justification perfunctory and unsatisfactory. The not-so-subtle message perhaps is that being a specialist batter or bowler won’t cut too much ice going forward.
The irony of the four-forked spin force playing second fiddle to Bumrah, mainly, and Siraj would not have been lost on the intelligent Gill. The former took for 27 from 14 overs, the latter recovered from a shabby start to finish with two for 47 from 12. Together, he sent down 47.3% of the 55 overs while taking 70% of the wickets. True, a day-one surface didn’t give the finger spinners much joy and clearly, the slower bowlers will enjoy greater success and influence as the game goes deep. And so, India might bask in their ‘smarts’ and pat themselves for embracing the horses-for-courses tack when they ought also to be aware that sometimes, being too smart comes with its own perils.
One isn’t privy, of course, to the conversation between head coach Gautam Gambhir and Sudharsan and what explanation has been proffered to the 23-year-old. And yes, he does deserve an explanation, let’s make no mistake. If three spinners can’t win India a Test, it’s unlikely the fourth will. As it is, the Eden strip has revealed inconsistent bounce more than alarming turn, but even assuming that there is greater purchase for the spin merchants in the second innings, aren’t those who breach 140 kmph better equipped to exploit the up-and-down nature of the deck?
If things go to plan, India will have picked 12 crucial WTC points, and that too at the expense of the current champions. But should that alone be the be-all and the end-all? What about building for the future?