Did you know the best bowling figures for an overseas bowler up until 2017 was Lance Klusener’s 8/64 at the Eden Gardens in 1996? And it took 11 years for Australia’s Nathan Lyon – an off-spinner- to better it with 8/50. In 2008, debutant Jason Krejza too had an eight-wicket haul, but for 215 runs. However, four years later after Lyon’s performance, New Zealand’s Ayaz Patel – another tweaker – claimed all ten – 10/119 at the Wankhede to top the list.
Two years on, Australia’s 22-year-old debuting off-spinner Todd Murphy’s maiden five-for on Friday in the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2022-23 in Nagpur slots right in as the second-best figures for an overseas spinner on debut, after Krejza’s effort. He ended the first innings with 7/124.
Historically, Indian batters are considered much better players of spin and for any overseas spinner touring India, these conditions are a death knell. However, in recent times that perception has changed with unheralded spinners troubling the Indian batters more often than not.
Have the Indian batters become less adept at playing spin or have the overseas spinners been better prepared to for the Indian condition? – A bit of both, if we dive deeper into the numbers.
A Dip In The Bowling Average For Overseas Spinner Vs India
From 2001 to 2012 – taking into consideration the ‘Greatest-ever series’ of 2001 till before the start of the 2012 England series, in which the duo of Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar outwitted India orchestrating to a famous series win, Indian batters scored at an average of 45.48 against spinners. In comparison, the pacers fared better with Indian batter’s average against pace during that phase being 38.87.
But, from 2012 onwards, the average against spinners have dipped to 41.41 and against pacers it has gone up to 42.22.
While from 2001 to 2012 the tweakers managed ten five-wicket hauls and one 10-wicket match haul, from 2012 onwards that number has risen to 14 five-wicket hauls and three ten-wicket match hauls. The corresponding numbers for pacers are 7 and 1 (2001-2012) and 8 and 0 (2012 onwards).
Clearly, there is a bit of a decline in how Indian batters have tackled spinners at home, but cumulatively there has not been a glaring sign of worry. After all, India’s dominant run at home has seen then win 15 series in a row.
When Swann-Panesar Shocked India
The last series defeat for India – was in 2012 against England in which Swann and Panesar claimed 20 and 17 wickets each in the 4-match series, outbowling their Indian counterparts, and setting up a famous win. Of course, Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen led from the front with the bat it was Panesar’s incisive spells (6/81 and 5/129 at the Wankhede) and Swann’s relentless discipline that did India in.
Credit to India though that after that series, the Indian tweakers have not really allowed their foreign counterparts to outshine then in subsequent tours. However, there have been instances on Indian batters faltering to overseas tweakers – and not necessarily to their frontline spinners – but to the understudies.
Murphy is the latest understudy to take Indian batters by surprise – and incidentally quite Swann like with his bowling approach and even the speeds at which he bowls, the off-spinner showed that if you are a good enough bowler, you can maximse the purchase off the wicket regardless of the fact that it is ‘doctored’ for a certain type of bowlers. On Day 2 at the Jamtha, Murphy outshone his mentor, and arguably one of the best spinners going around now – Lyon.
Ajaz’s Perfect Ten
It was also only a couple of years ago that NZ’s Patel – playing only his 11th Test and 3rd match in the subcontinent etched his name in the history books with a 10-wicket haul at the Wankhede – only the third bowler in history to do achieve the feat. While the result of the match was was a foregone conclusion after India bundled out NZ for 62 in the first innings, an overseas spinner claiming all ten wickets against India in India was something of an anomaly.
Joe Root, a part-time spinner, had similarly shocked India in the 2012 Anthony de Mello Series at Ahmedabad, a dustbowl that saw the match ending in two days with spinners taking 28 off the 30 wickets to falls. While Axar Patel was near unplayable, and returned a match haul of 11 wickets, Joe Root did claim 5/8 in the only innings India played. All in all the overseas spinners returned with a good haul of 37 wickets from four matches.
Steve O’Keefe’s Pune Magic
Going further back another series that saw overseas spinners making an impact was the 2017-18 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The Pune Test – the series opener and an unheralded 32-year-old Steve O’Keefe, playing only his fifth Test – claimed match-figures of 12/70 to hand India their first home defeat since 2012. Once again, it was not that O’Keefe spun the ball viciously or the pitch had enough assistance, the tweaker just managed to trap the Indian batters with his guile. Here also, Lyon was the senior spinner, but the Gazza ended the series with 19 wickets, at par with O’Keefe – two less than Ravichandran Ashwin’s tally of 21 and five than the leading wicket-taker in the series – Ravindra Jadeja (25).
Dane Piedt Who?
In 2015-16, South Africa’s Imran Tahir and Simon Harmer had reasonable success against the Indians with Tahir ending up with 14, and Harmer 10 wickets. Tahir had match hauls of 6 wickets in the Nagpur and Mohali Tests while Harmer picked 5 each in the both the Tests. Ashwin though was sensational in the series 12-wicekt haul at Nagpur and 8-wicket haul at Mohali. But it was Dane Piedt, an off spinner playing his 2nd Test who troubled India in the Delhi Test – he claimed four wickets using the low bounce and slow nature of the Kotla track. His victims – Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. His next India sojourn was in 2019 in which he bowled 54 overs giving away 310 runs and claiming two wickets. He has not played a single Test since.
Shane Shillingford Makes a Killing
West Indies’ Shane Shillingford also enjoyed bowling against India in the 2013-14 series and in the Eden Garden pitch – assisting spin – the off-break bowler had India reeling at 83/5 with him claiming four of those wickets – Vijay, Dhawan, Sachin Tendulkar and Kohli. He went on to add two more in the innings, but Rohit (177) and Ashwin’s (124) 280-run stand for the seventh wicket saved India the blushes. Shillingford would go on to take a five-for in the next match at the Wankhede. But, his performance went unnoticed with all of India and probably the cricketing world eyes were fixated on SRT – this was his final Test match.
In Lyon’s first series in India after a dry spell in Chennai and Mohali, he confirmed his status as Australia’s leading spinner with 7/94. In 2009-10, Sri Lanka’s left-arm orthodox Rangana Herath surprised India leading the wicket-taking charts ahead of the great Muttiah Muralidharan.
Then of course was Krejza’s eight-wicket haul, but at the cost of 215 runs at Nagpur 2008. He had a match haul of 12 wickets but at the expense for 358 runs. But, his tally still remains the best for a debuting bowler against India. Murphy is already more than halfway there, and unlike Krejza, looks the real deal. If Australia batters can survive just enough to give Murphy a second crack on this pitch, he could potentially look to go past Krezja’s match tally as well.
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