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All about the three Ls

V. V. Kumar, former spin bowler of extraordinary skills, is passing on his knowledge to aspirants

Photo: V. Ganesan

SPIN DOCTOR V. V. Kumar

From behind those glasses, Vishwanath Vaman Kumar's probing eyes stare at you asking questions when it is you who is posing them.

Not surprisingly, the batsmen struggled to find the right answers when this leg-spin wizard flighted and turned them. Their technique and temperament were searched.

Apart from mastery over craft, Kumar's razor-sharp mind enabled him to dominate the men facing him psychologically. He could spot the chinks and then zero in on them mercilessly.

Sadly, he played in India's golden era of spin in the 1960s and the 1970s when breaking into the Test eleven for a spinner was, probably, as difficult as a forward winning a place in Brazil's football side. Kumar claimed seven wickets in two Tests, both in 1961, including a five-wicket innings haul against Pakistan on his debut in New Delhi.

He has an astonishing record in first class cricket — Kumar and Srinivas Venkatraghavan combined with deadly effect for Tamil Nadu — picking up 599 wickets in 129 matches.

Now the 71-year-old former bowler of extraordinary skills is passing on his knowledge to aspirants.

Ask him who a genuine spin bowler is and the reply is instant — "One who can run through a side, and do so on good wickets. Bowl `at' the batsmen and not bowl `to' them."

He says the young spinners do suffer from technical deficiencies like "incorrect body alignment." Kumar believes the spinners of his generation had the basics right, "right from the run-up, transit position, delivery stride, to weight transfer."

One of the illustrious coaches of the National Cricket Academy's Spin Wing, along with Bishan Singh Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna, Kumar is focussing on the fundamentals.

His technical excellence surfaces when he throws light on how he worked on promising leg-spinner Piyush Chawla. "He used to deliver with his first and second fingers and thumb. But for a leg-spinner to be effective, he should use his ring finger balanced by his little finger and thumb."

Basics of spin

He then dwells on the googly. "Chawla's wrist was not facing the ground earlier. Now he bowls with the back of his palm. His strides were too long, now they are shorter."

Kumar feels the basics of spin bowling have remained the same. "It's all about the three Ls — loop, length and line. Length is mandatory, line is optional." Use of the non-bowling arm and utilising the crease to change the angle are crucial ingredients.

And flight is intertwined with loop, where a spinner often sells the dummy to the batsman. "Loop is nothing but over-spinning the ball and pulling it at the last minute." The sphere, consequently, hangs in the air.

More wisdoms pours out of Kumar — "Gifting of runs is not purchase of wickets." In other words, tossing the ball up without spin should not be confused with flight. "They (the present day spinners) don't know how to operate on a batting pitch, and if the surface is helpful, they don't know how to use it." On a wicket suiting the batsman, a spinner had to bring his guile and variations into play. If the pitch is a minefield, he only has to rely on control and accuracy and allow the track to do the rest.

The ideal action for a spinner is `side-on.' The `chest-on' release, he points out, can lead to faulty and often illegal bowling action. "If the back-foot is parallel to the crease, a bowler is automatically side-on."

The key element

`Pivoting' is another key element of spin bowling. Says Kumar, "Unless you pivot, you cannot get turn and bounce. Pivoting is nothing but landing on your heel and the rotation of the heel to toe. He is of the opinion that the back-foot placement is "totally wrong" even in most Ranji Trophy bowlers.

The former India spinner thinks the present-day spinners, who have a defensive mind-set, run out of ideas while operating against quick-footed batsmen. "They should know how to set up a batsman with subtle changes. They need to bowl long spells. They should be backed by the captain."

Predictably, the conversation turns to doosra. "Even in my time, Venkataraghavan and Prasanna used to bowl the floater that would drift away by using the third finger. Now they want to spin the doosra big and this is leading to problems with their action."

Kumar, who is concerned about the crisis in spin facing Tamil Nadu, is emphatic that there is no dearth of talent in the state, but that ability will have to be nursed. The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association conducted a 21-day camp for young spinners in June, with Kumar heading the panel of coaches. He insists on adequate follow-up measures, so that the faults do not creep in again.

Kumar, clearly, is giving something back to the game. True art never dies.

S. DINAKAR

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