Who after R Ashwin? Dinesh Karthik reveals name of the frontrunner

After Harbhajan Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin has taken up the baton of being the goto off-spinner in Indian cricket. The willy spinner has bowled remarkable spells across the formats. However, the 37-year-old is not getting any younger either hence the team is looking for the next off-spinner who can replace Ashwin.

“India are definitely looking for a next-gen off-spinner, as in last India ‘A’ series against England Lions, they tried three off-spinners in three matches: Pulkit Narang, Washington Sundar and Saransh Jain,” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.

“They are trying out and Washington Sundar is the front-runner behind Ravichandran Ashwin right now. He’s done well in whatever limited opportunities he’s got and I feel he will get his due first before going to anybody else,” Karthik added.

Why is difficult to find off-spinners

In the modern game, the bats have got bigger and most wickets are flat which makes the margin of error for off-spinners minimal, especially in white-ball cricket. However, leg-spinners and left-arm spinners are able to manage.

“See, any spinner will get hit on a given day. Off-spinners are much easier in the sense they get into the arc because a lot of cricketers are good at hitting sixes to cow corner. So it is a natural shot as off-spinners get into that slot very easily,” former India off-spinner and Tamil Nadu coach M Venkataramana speaking told The Indian Express once.

Off-spinners are finding it tough to make their mark in red-ball cricket as well, even on the domestic circuit. Former Tamil Nadu cricketer Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, when asked if white ball cricket is behind the relative lack of off-spinners in comparison leg-spinners and left-arm spinners in red-ball cricket, agreed, while adding another reason.

“We have also become a fast-bowling country. Now we have a lot more fast bowlers coming into the system. Spinners are not getting games because of that too. A lot of spinners of previous generations bowled at least 25-30 overs a day. But a lot of bowlers now bowl only 10 overs in an innings.”

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