Specials | Features >> The lost boys Once heralded as the next big brown hopes of spin, Danish Kaneria and Harbhajan Singh now find themselves losing the magic that made them great Osman Samiuddin December 14, 2007 That uncertain feeling: is Kaneria a stock or shock bowler? © AFP Shane Warne has gone, Anil Kumble and Muttiah Muralitharan will go soon: cherish them while you can, for a greater trio of spinners, twirling together in one age, you will not see, perhaps ever. Cherish them especially because beyond them, though good spinners exist, great ones aren't obvious. Stuart MacGill's future has become bleak, as quickly as it became tangible, Daniel Vettori has captaincy to tackle, and Monty Panesar much to learn. And there are Danish Kaneria and Harbhajan Singh, a pair from whom were once expected great things, not least spin leadership post-Warne, Murali and Kumble. They fit the profile. Both are still young, Harbhajan about six months older at 27. They are experienced enough. Kaneria made his debut over two and a half years after Harbhajan, in December 2000, but with 51 Tests is only nine behind him. Between them, they also have 468 Test wickets, shared almost equally. Yet, currently they seem likelier to lead their art into numbing oblivion. Part of the reason the India-Pakistan series was fizz-less was that Kaneria and Harbhajan were so poor through it. Apart from a spell apiece, both carried the sting of butterflies, devoid of threat, mystery or guile, and never more so than on the last days in Delhi and Kolkata, days on which a spinner earns his bread. Quality spin has never been - and never should be - as robotic, as automated and witless as these two made it. Sadly, it has been this way a while. Wickets are not the problem: Harbhajan took 10 and Kaneria 12 in the series, enough to maintain career averages comfortably. But increasingly, the wickets are taken at such expense, at such intervals, and mostly when it matters so little, that they are as useful as the appendix. All spinners buy wickets, but the best make sure they don't without a fair haggle. It wasn't always this way. In 2000-01, Harbhajan was the kingpin, Kumble out of the picture. And after devouring lambs early, over 2004-05 Kaneria looked set to carry on the mischief of Abdul Qadir. But since then, odd spells and periods apart, there has been broad decay, a disrobing of their mystiques. Fittingly, their career figures are similar and so too the complexities fuelling their fall. Watching Harbhajan now is like watching the final, dark years of Saqlain Mushtaq, after he had OD'ed on ODIs. The flight is gone, the doosra is the pehla (first), and the whole process more rushed, more unthinking. It has served a purpose over one day, not so much over five. Doubts over his action haven't helped. Though he maintains a cool unconcern, having the essence of your professional existence questioned can't be helpful. And neither was the era of Greg Chappell, when there was less confidence - justifiably? - placed in him than under Sourav Ganguly. What role, too, did Harbhajan's finger injury at a crucial time in 2003 play, allowing Kumble to become India's main spinner again, and subsequently fogging up Harbhajan's role: once he was the spearhead, what exactly is he now? Kumble's sidekick or leading spinner in his own right? This uncertainty of roles has stunted Kaneria too. It's difficult to tell whether he is a shock or stock bowler. Ideally, he should be able to switch, but much of the work he has done over the last 18 months has been as part of an attack so light, it would struggle to rid the crease of a feather. Harbhajan found himself out of favour in Greg Chappell's regime - perhaps with justification © AFP Warne was great, but having Glenn McGrath with him made him greater still. Kaneria propping up Mohammad Sami, Shahid Nazir and the obligatory crocked fast bowler is one thing; Kaneria complementing Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul and Shoaib Akhtar another entirely. Some say he experiments too much. It was once said of his googly, by Richie Benaud, that it was the best-disguised he had seen. But he uses it so often now that the Pakistan Post delivers it a day early to batsmen. And even South Africans picked it without alarm recently, a death knell to the credibility of any wrong'un. Others say he doesn't experiment enough. Very belatedly, he unveiled a promising, zippy flipper in Delhi, only to barely use it again in the series. He is, commendably and distressingly, self-sufficient, rightly proud to be where he is, what he is, through his own making. But he also isn't keen on learning from others, petulantly thinking it an admission, somehow, of weakness. Right now, maybe a little advice, some mentoring would help. There is no shortage of his kind to call upon. Horrendous pitches have helped neither. It's not, as Kaneria says, that they don't spin in the subcontinent; it is that they don't bounce, and though Harbhajan and he are different kinds, both thrive on bounce. Perhaps there are other, more complex factors, altogether. Spinners, after all, are rarely uncomplicated cricketers. But spinners also age well, so there is hope yet that they will emerge. India and Pakistan need them to do so, but cricket needs them to do so even more. Osman Samiuddin is the Pakistan editor of Cricinfo © Cricinfo

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Posted by Raddzz on December 16 2007, 08:30 AM GMT

Couldnt agree more. harbhajan i reckon is now more of a guy who can stop a batsman from scoring but not take wickets consistently. i think we saw a bit of it in t/20 when he was quite economical mostly because he was bowling flatter and yorkish deliveries. i mean this might work in shorter versions but in test cricket its just pure boring. kaneria on the other hand is just told by his captain to operate from one end and let fast bowlers like shoaib and gul do their work. it looks like when he bowls he is waiting for a mistake from the batsman rather than create stuff. and there is the talk of not being enough bounce and spin in the wickets these days. well it is partly true but i think thats what makes a great bowler. a person like kumble who can rack up tonners of wickets even on the subcontinent. i reckon its about time they add a few more variations to there portfolio......maybe tips from the maestro himself Shane Warne wouldnt go astray ayyy!!!!!!!

Posted by cmac on December 15 2007, 16:06 PM GMT

I agree very much with your article. I feel particularly compelled to comment on Kaneria, as I bowl leg spin myself. Kaneria is a big turner of the ball - but big turn is not what gets you wickets. The fact that subcontinental pitches don't bounce means that changes of pace and the use of topsin is more important than turning it absolutely square. Anil Kumble has been so successful because he relies on tying the batsman down and extracting bounce - there are very few ways of getting a wicket with legspin that are based simply on sharp turn. From what i have seen of Danish Kaneria, the subtle changes of pace and flight are not apparent. The introduction of a flipper is a good way to change the pace, but more needs to be done - less wrong'uns would be a good start. Here in Australia i was taught from a young age that the wrong'un is used sparingly to keep the batsman honest, and that topsin and flight is how you get the batsman out. Maybe Kaneria needs to think about this sort of thing.

Posted by toyboy on December 15 2007, 15:48 PM GMT

I guess Pakistan suffered a huge loss when Azhar mahmood and Saqlain just stopped playing. That was a huge loss, given Saqlain's match winning abilities. He would have had 500 wickets by now had he not quit so awkwardly. Kaneria is simply not in the same league as Saqlain.

Posted by SalmanCricket on December 15 2007, 04:31 AM GMT

I think this is unfair to all the india cricketeers and the pakistan's. I'm a pakistani but you just can't compare great people with new beginners. You should give them time to adjust and then take advantage of them. What's wrong with Harbhajan is that he has lost his focus. Kaneria's problem is that the team always depends on him the most. I think they should let him try new technoques and then let him capatalize. I'm only 12 years old and this my view. Please comment me if I am wrong. Thank you

Posted by shokkuddy on December 14 2007, 20:40 PM GMT

I think the problem is in mentality. From my point of view Kumble great only because he is consistent. Murali is much better than Kumble, because of his right mix of pace and he SPINS the ball. Warne is the greatest, because he got the perfect mix of right pace, variations and spun the ball consistently. But for these new spinners they don't know how to use variations. If Warne was called "LEG BREAK-GOOGLY" bowler, Kaneria can be called "GOOGLEY-LEGBREAK" bowler, because he over-bowls the googly. Hardhajan is not an OFF-BREAK bowler. He is a DOOSRA bowler with occasional OFF-SPIN. Yes the Glory of watching a Warne or Murali won't be there in Two years. Batsmen will be getting out to these so called spinners because of Arrogance, not because of a brilliantly planned spell.

Posted by nepal9211 on December 14 2007, 20:23 PM GMT

I agree! Bhajji and Kaneria's performance is going down. I mean they are taking wickets which enables them to maintain their career averages but they haven't played any key role in defeating their opponents. Line and length is one thing but they should also have some variation. I know its not very good to compare them to greats like Warne and Murali, but they could at least learn something. I've seen harbhajan he bowls flatter delivery quite a lot, maybe he is trying to be like Kumble, that I dont know and also kaneria bowls quite a lot of googly's. So, overall I think that they should have at least 3V or 3 variations. Harbhajan: 1) Top spinner 2) Wrong un or doosra 3) Deceptive slower delivery(with flight) Kaneria: 1) Flatter or flipper 2) Googly 3) Topspinner I THINK these are the things which will help them and Kaneria should bowl a googly maximum 9or10 times in 3 test matches which means he should not bowl more than 4googly's in a single match or else it will be predictable.

Posted by Cricketcrazy1 on December 14 2007, 20:01 PM GMT

Dear Moinanwer,to get Saqlain back to play for Pakistan, you have got to take his newly-acquired passport away. He is now dreaming to play for England. Good Luck. I agree with almost everything that Mr. Samiuddin has said about Harbhajan. He should count himself to be lucky to be in the Indian side.

Posted by Atman_uk on December 14 2007, 19:14 PM GMT

Kaneria is in no way in the same class as the 3 spinners mentioned, nor is he in the same class as Mushy or Saqlain Mushtaq. In times when the team needs match winners you could always rely on Mushy and Saqi to get wickets and win games. I have been watching Kaneria for 2 years and he is not the match winner that most predicted when he first came on the scene. Many of his wickets tend to be middle order or lower at times. When all else fails you rely on your spinners to do something and i know most would argue about pitches and the pressure applied at the other end by quality bowlers but the fact remains that whilst Warne, Murli and Kumble can turn a match around on their own merit kaneri i fear will never be that good. I think its high time we finish investing in this guy and bed in some future potential, the same applies to fast bowlers of Pakistan, why not try someone with raw out and out pace, i mean if not anything he will rush batsemen in false strokes, look at Malinga.

Posted by nikhil99 on December 14 2007, 19:07 PM GMT

There have been great spinners before (e.g. Jim Laker and the Indian quarter Bedi, Chandrashekhar, Prasanna and Venkatraghavan). And Piyush Chawla and Karthik look like good options. Harbachan seemed poor, but against different opposition, different pitches and with more sustained spells, he may be more effective.

Posted by UmarRiaz on December 14 2007, 19:00 PM GMT

I think it is time for Pakistan to try someone else. Kaneria's proformance is far below average in last 3 or 4 years. Pakistan plays with only one spinner and he got full oppertunity as he is doing 40% of the total bowling and all he gets is 3 or 4 tailenders wickets and that too after giving 150 runs on average. Even Afridi's performance is much better than him in the matches they have played togather, although Afridi was given very little oppertunity and much less bowling. Just compare the averages and number of top order wickets these two have taken in last 3-4 years. I cant believe that there is no other spinner in Pakistan. I think it is time for Pakistan to give him a rest and try AbulRehman, Afridi or Mansoor Amjad a proper chance. I dont know why Pakistan havent given Mansoor Amjad any chance as he is also a very good batsman. He could play in place of Faisal Iqbal and serve as a 5th bowler which Pakistan badly needs now a days. Shame on Selectors.

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