"I'm surprised India haven't brought Chahal or Kuldeep Yadav" - Australian legend on visitors' squad for BGT 2024-25
Former Australian captain Allan Border has expressed surprise over the fact that India did not pick either leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal or left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav for the ongoing Test series Down Under. According to Border, modern-day captains need to realize that leg-spinners need some time to develop and hence must be given a longer rope to sharpen their skills.
India picked Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar as their three spin bowling options for BGT 2024-25. With Ashwin having retired after The Gabba Test, the visitors are left with only two spinners in Jadeja and Sundar.
In an interview with The Times of India, Border lamented how leg-spinners are no longer the preferred option among spinners, pointing out that everyone cannot be like the legendary Shane Warne.
"I'm surprised India haven't brought (Yuzvendra) Chahal or Kuldeep Yadav. It's hard to develop a leg-spinner. A Shane Warne doesn't come along every day. I don't think captains use leg-spinners very well. They want them to be like Warne, crowding men around the bat, on the attack. I see captains bring on a leggie and they've got bat-pad, two slips and a gully," Border said.
Terming modern-day captains as defensive, he urged them to give better backing to young leg-spinners so that they could develop their game. The 69-year-old added.
"You need to give him protection. He's going to bowl one half-tracker or a full toss. They don't necessarily get blokes out bat-pad or caught at slip. You've got to have the captaincy to bring the best out of a leggie. Finger spinners are tighter. It's a containment thing, and then you wait for the batsmen to get themselves out. Whereas with the leggie, the tendency is to be a bit loose.
"Warney was different because he was very accurate and could spin the ball. That just shows how hard that art is to master," Border concluded.
Off-spinner Nathan Lyon took over the role of Australia's frontline slow bowler after Warne's retirement. The 37-year-old has 533 wickets to his name from 132 Tests at an average of 30.45, with 24 five-fers and five 10-wicket match hauls.
India have played three different spinners in the three BGT 2024-25 Tests so far
The visitors went into the Perth Test against Australia with Sundar as the lone spin bowling option in the playing XI. He was dropped for the second Test in Adelaide as Ashwin was preferred with the pink ball. India then left out Ashwin and brought Jadeja into the playing XI for the third Test at The Gabba.