A rank 'turner' by Sandeep Patil

Sandeep Patil is an extraordinary man he likes doing things out of the ordinary His selection committeersquos decision not to pick a specialist spinner in the India lsquoArsquo team against the touring Englishmen is bizarre and baffling Though his national selection committee comprises four other selectors his 1983 World Cup teammate Roger Binny Vikram Rathour who he coached in the India lsquoArsquo as well as the senior side R S Hans who he came up against in firstclass cricket and Saba Karim all major decisions will be attached to him considering he is the head Wise men Chairman of the national selection committee Sandeep Patil right with fellow selector Roger Binny at the Cricket Club of India Mumbai yesterday PicSuresh KK The selectorsrsquo nospecialist spinneragainstEngland mantra is viewed in some quarters as a slap in the face of Indiarsquos cricketing heritage Indeed this is still the land of spin Presumably the idea behind this is to prevent England from tuning up well for the series ldquoAbsoulutely stupidrdquo was how Bishan Singh Bedi described the selectorsrsquo decision Wonder what sort of message this sends out to promising spinners who ought to be trading punches with top overseas batsmen Patil will hope the tactic ends with a positive result for India but sometimes the lsquosmartestrsquo of moves donrsquot eventuate in victory In 197273 Ian Chappell led a determined Australian team to the West Indies and was trying to work out what the West Indies were up to midway through the first Test in Jamaica According to Chappell lsquothe penny droppedrsquo in the second Test at Barbados where he realised that the West Indies were not trying to win and were waiting for the third Test in Trinidad where their spinners Lance Gibbs and Inshan Ali were expected to thrive Now Chappell didnrsquot have his main offspinner Ashley Mallett on tour but he didnrsquot fall to pieces because he believed his batting had the ability to counter spin Probably counter is the most inappropriate word for Doug Walters who demolished Gibbs and Ali almost singlehandedly to cause one of the most memorable wins in Australian cricket history Chappellrsquos 97 in the second innings with a twisted ankle was vital too That the West Indies were not beaten in a series at home for the next 22 years is another matter Ajit Wadekarrsquos men achieved a series win a couple of seasons before Australiarsquos great triumph Offspinner Lance Gibbs who in 197576 became the first spinner to claim 300 plus Test wickets didnrsquot play the first Test at Kingston and his place was taken by Trinidadrsquos Jack Noreiga In the second Test at Trinidad which India won Noreiga claimed nine wickets in an innings The third Test was scheduled in Guyana the hometown of Gibbs who had to make an impression in the Indians vs Guyana game to put him in contention for the next Test in Guyana Kenia Jayantilal the Mumbaibased former Hyderabad allrounder remembers captain Ajit Wadekar telling the team than no one should get dismissed by Gibbs in the side game The captain had his way to an extent because Gibbs finished the match with only one wicket Ashok Mankad in his 48 overs Jayantilal got an unbeaten hundred in the second innings and could have helped India reach their 327run target ldquoWe finished the game with 277 for three and Rohan Kanhai captain of Guyana gave me hell for not going for a win I couldnrsquot tell him that Ajit had instructed us not to succumb to Gibbs and hence I had to hold back my aggressionrdquo said Jayantilal Gibbs did play the third Test at Guyana and went wicketless in a drawn encounter Hope all ends well for Patil and India Else a sandy storm might just hit India Clayton Murzello is MiD DAYrsquos Group Sports Editoru00a0