Spinners are not looking to turn the ball: Muralitharan
Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan believes spinners in the Indian Premier League are not looking to turn the ball as they have not developed the skills since young age and it is not possible to develop the art during the tournament.
Muralitharan said spinners nowadays do not develop the art of spinning the ball and making batters think as their focus remains on containing with variations.
“(The) domestic level (cricket) has also been like this for spinners. When we played cricket, as a spinner, you have to turn the ball - that is your first objective. Nowadays, it’s not the key because everyone is not looking at (playing) Test cricket. They are looking to play one-day cricket,” Muralitharan told reporters here on Wednesday after Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Mumbai Indians by six wickets.
“Even at a young age, they only try to bowl quicker, vary (the deliveries) and not try to spin it. Because they are not getting that ability from the younger days, they can’t come (at the age of) 19s and 18s and try to spin the ball because their muscle memories are already there in place.
“When you are (at the) age of 10, 11, (or) 12, try to spin. That’s the way we learnt. We need to spin to beat the bat,” he added.
Muralitharan said batting against spinners in the IPL is like practicing against throwdown specialists as it is all about getting in the line of the ball and smacking it.
“If you are a really good spinner, if you can spin the ball, then you have a chance to beat them. But if you can’t spin, it’s like all the batsmen you see in the practices, (what) they do with the throwdowns and hit sixes,” he said.
“It looks like a throwdown bowler bowling at you and you are getting into the line and hitting. That’s the way the batsmen are playing. But if you spin, their eyes open. (They are forced to think) ‘oh, it’s spinning and I’m missing it’.”
Muralitharan continued, “It’s very difficult to teach (spin bowling). It has to come from them. But there are all coming in at the age of professional level. When you come one level higher, you have to improve their game. So, some people do, some people go down so it’s very difficult to come here in the IPL and improve spinners.”
