India vs Australia: WV Raman explains how to bat against spin bowling
If there’s one thing the ongoing India-Australia Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has reiterated, it is that India can no longer claim to possess the best players of the turning ball. That’s a damning comedown for a country that boasts some of the most wondrous batsmen against spin, but in a way, it’s inevitable too, given the preponderance of matches, the lack of time between tours to prepare assiduously and the fact that once a player starts playing internationally on a regular basis, the focus is more on playing pace than spin.
WV Raman, the former India opener who was amongst the foremost batsmen against spin at a time when there was a preponderance of world-class spinners in Indian domestic cricket, is convinced none of the current problems being faced by the Indian batsmen are not fixable. Raman, who has been a successful coach and was in charge of the Indian women’s team for nearly two and a half years, deconstructs the art of batting on turners, with the caveat that he wouldn’t term the ‘track’ at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, where India lost the third Test within seven sessions, as a rank turner.
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How to play the turning ball?
“On these kinds of pitches, there is no point talking about technique or anything, it’s a lottery,” he guffaws as he warms up for a chat with The Federal. “Whatever we discuss henceforth will be with regard to turning tacks where the bounce is reasonably even and good.”
Reflecting on the woes of the Indian top order, the left-hander who was India’s first international centurion in South Africa back in 1992-93, points out, “The biggest challenge is when you have a combination of variable bounce and the DRS, which doesn’t give you any kind of leeway. With the DRS being what it is, any small error in judgement can have grave consequences. Most batters these days, in their own ways of trying to handle challenges on a turning track, don’t do a few things which can make them a little bit more efficient. For example, the stride is far too forward, the stride is too big, which does not facilitate them leaning over the ball while playing.
“If your front leg is stretched so far forward so that your upper body is lagging behind, then it becomes a problem for you to play with any kind of control. You have to ensure the stride is only such distance-wise that you are able to play the ball beneath your eyes; the leading shoulder and head should be above your foot. But if your front leg is ahead and the shoulder and the head stay back because of the big stride forward, then you are a sitting duck, especially when the ball is keeping low. You have to ensure that you get a stride forward which is good enough but which is not exaggerated, and it is only to the extent where it allows your head and shoulder to be on top of the ball.”
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Using angles the VVS Laxman way
Having played with and against acknowledged masters of spin, Raman observes, “If you cast your mind back to the Azhars and the Vengsarkars playing on a turning track or against spinners, you will see that they always had the leading shoulder and head over the ball, which is what facilitated them playing shots or defending or smothering the spin. That’s because if your shoulder and head can be ahead of your leg after stretching out, it helps you to make last-minute adjustments. But if you have taken your front leg so far ahead and your upper body is staying behind, you are left to chance. The other thing is that all the joints and hinges should work sequentially but should stay in line. By that, I mean the shoulder, the elbow and the wrist should be in one line and should work in a sequential manner which means that the shoulder goes wherever you want it to go and then the elbow follows and the wrist stays in that line, which will facilitate you using the wrist to manoeuvre around the field with the turn and pick up runs. But if the wrists somehow go at right angles to the rest of the joints, then it’s a problem. They have to stay in line, which will enable them to retain their shape.”
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All this sounds simple enough when the articular Raman puts it this way, so why are these things not happening, one seeks to know. “To be very honest, I don’t know how much of good quality spin bowling they get to play,” he counters. “It’s all about playing matches regularly on different kinds of tracks against spinners. Even after that, there is no guarantee (of success). It’s something you pick up with experience, which means that regardless of whether you are a Virat Kohli or a Rohit Sharma, whatever it is that they are doing today is only because of experience. The others may not have experienced playing on different kinds of tracks, or rank turners or against different spinners because it is a skill you acquire over a period of time. Tactically, I for one felt that on a turner, you get a lot more opportunities to score runs than on a good track, especially when you are playing against bowlers who are also not used to bowling on turners. Unless the bowler is immaculate in terms of where he lands the ball, you are bound to get opportunities.
“As a batter, you must also use the angles. Take VVS Laxman, for example. He would stay beside the line of the ball, he wouldn’t commit too early. The trick is on a turner, you have to take it a little bit easy in terms of starting to move,” he continues. “There will be that little bit of lag because the ball will grip the surface and as a result, the ball will deviate, which means you have to be a trifle late in initiating your move. Your responses should be a trifle late. That will be in sync with what the ball is doing and also with the pace of the ball coming at you off the surface.”
‘Eagerness is not always an advantage’
Raman draws on his felicity against the turning ball to buttress his point. He did make nearly 8,000 first-class runs at an average of 45.62, and was confronted by some of the finest spinners to have come out of India during a career that stretched between 1982 and 1999. “In your desire to counter the spin and smother it, what happens is that you get a little bit too eager and start moving a bit too soon. In cricket, you can manage starting your moves a bit late and make last-minute adjustments because the bat will always come down as a reflex action suddenly. But when you have moved too soon and you are committed to being in one position, you have nowhere to go,” Raman notes. “It’s not a question of basics, they all have sound basics. For example, you cannot fault Virat Kohli’s defence, you cannot fault Pujara’s defence. It’s just that a little bit of restraint and calmness is required. The fact is that there is no escaping getting out as a batter. It’s about trying to time the movement you make corresponding to the surface and the lag which is there when the ball hits the surface, grips and then deviates – you’ve got to get that timing right in terms of your movements.”
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Contrary to popular opinion, lack of confidence owing to a string of low scores isn’t an issue, Raman asserts, adding that if anything, it’s the other extreme that might be a contributory factor to repeated failures. “At times, eagerness is not always an advantage,” Raman, one of the shrewdest brains in the game, says. “Being too eager is perhaps the reason why sometimes batters don’t succeed – too eager either in terms of wanting to counter the spin or wanting to perform really well on a bad pitch or wanting to be the lead performer for the side, too eager because of their professional pride or their professional ego. Eagerness sometimes lets you down badly. I don’t think any one in the current side is short on confidence. They are all perhaps a little too keyed up or a little too sure of themselves.”
In effect, we ask him, these are fixable problems, right? “Of course they are, it is all there within them to fix these problems. Trying to move a little late is not something they can’t do, they can do it.”
And yet, we counter, these problems aren’t new. They have remained unfixed for the last five-six years. “I do agree,” Raman concedes, “but the point is, who has spoken to them about what? The other thing is that they are playing a home series now, let’s say the next series is in South Africa. They will get to play on firm, hard tracks. Then what happens? What happens is that you are looking to do things that will fetch you success there. This (woes against spin) has gone to the backburner. It’s like playing it by ear. Given the kind of busy schedules and the way the FTP (Future Tours Programme) operates, players cannot be working on anything fixed for a certain period of time. Everything is only momentary.”
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‘Why play on rank turners at home?’
Given the travails of the top order against the turning ball, not always delivered by the most skilled or the most experienced, is it fair to say that Indians can no longer claim to be the best players against spin? “Yeah, but the question that needs to be asked is, why do we need to play on such tracks?” he retorts. “Let’s not forget the reasons why we had that Fabulous Five (Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly). It’s not that they didn’t have the talent, but they more or less played on some good tracks at home under Sourav’s captaincy, on nice, hard tracks which gave them the confidence to perform abroad as well. The series that we won in 2001 against Australia, that famous partnership between Laxman and Dravid (in Kolkata), that happened on a good track. That whole series was played on good tracks.
“We were gloating over the fact that Bharat Arun (the former bowling coach) had left behind a great crop of fast bowlers, which is a fact,” Raman offers, tangentially. “When you have them and our batters look like they are capable of handling the best of fast bowlers, why do we again go back to rank turners at home? Once you resort to playing on turners, the danger is always there because a lot will hinge on how the coin flips. Then again, in this series, all three matches have been won by teams that lost the toss, so how do you even make out any kind of rationale out of this? Our boys can really handle the best of fast bowlers, that they have proved in recent times again and again and that too in the most adverse of circumstances. Now, no one can convince me our batsmen are not capable.
“Let’s face it. Where do you have a wealth of talent we have wherein your spinners can be dependable enough to get you half-centuries against the best of attacks in a tight situation? We have all that. Where’s the problem? I’d say that it’s just a case of sitting back, pausing, reflecting on it and working it out mentally. It will happen. Starting to move a bit late is something that can happen; being not exaggerated in your movements is also well within them. You hear so much talk about controlling the controllables. These are controllables, aren’t they?”
