`Spin guru' Kumar offers some food for thought

To continue our feature on the MAC Spin Foundation in Chennai, here is a conversation with VV Kumar, the foundation's coach, who was only too eager to share a few thoughts at the end of the daily practice session. Kumar took five wickets in an innings on his Test debut against Pakistan at Delhi but bafflingly played in only one more Test. He did however have the satisfaction of snaring a then record 417 wickets in the Ranji Trophy. Here are some excerpts.

We have a pace foundation (the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai) isn't it? So some of our chief architects like Mr. MA Chidambaram and Mr. AC Muthiah were of the opinion that since the South was predominantly very powerful in the art of spin bowling, why not start a foundation on the lines of the pace foundation so that we could revitalise the art of spin bowling. On August 16 1996, the whole outfit came into effect, that's how the foundation was started.

I played for nearly two and a half decades. During my days there was a good repertoire of spin bowlers but they were not able to get into the side. Between Venkat and myself, from 1964-78 we have taken 850 wickets. When two outstanding bowlers are performing well, the selection committee thinks why not try them for 1-2 years more. So the younger group find it difficult to get into the Ranji Trophy side. By the time they come into the side, they are 24-25 and it is time not to learn something but to pursue the art of spin bowling. The learning period is over. The plethora of one-day matches at school and college levels has also contributed. They start with 30 over matches and the coaches advises young spinners: don't flight, if you flight, I'll change you. You have to keep the batsman under check. The youngster, although he can spin and flight the ball disconcertingly, is made to adopt a certain kind of bowling standard by the coach. That's the prime reason for causing havoc in youth cricket. It exists at the Under-14, Under-16 and Under-19 levels. The classic art of spinning, flighting and looping the ball is lost. Once you bowl flat you can only contain the batsman. The coaches these days applaud a bowler who bowls 10 overs, 28 runs, 1 wicket but not a bowler who bowls 10 overs, 78 runs, 5 wickets.

In the first instance when we formulated the idea of this foundation, we were supposed to get tie ups with Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa, England and so on. The facilities that have been provided here, to a great extent they match facilities available elsewhere. There is a gymnasium, a sports doctor, a yoga teacher, all of them are available to us at any point of time. The foundation starts with physical activities from 3.30 to 4.00 every day. Even if outstation players from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Africa want to come and have a stint for a short duration of 15 days, we can always accomodate them. I'm quite confident that what we've got is quite adequate for the present functioning of the foundation.

We have selected a core group of 15 local boys and 10 from outstation. Altogether there are only 25 boys, so the focus is not lost. If we have 50 or 60, the focus is terribly lost. Some of the outstanding players we have got are Sanjay Satpathy from Orissa, Sanjay Raul, a capable all rounder also from Orissa, Sandeep Sawal, a leg spinner from Punjab who has been consistently performing well - these are the three players who've already played for their state or zone. In the younger category we have Abdul Malik, a very promising and vicious off spinner of high repute, Ramkumar, a left arm spinner of great variety and skill, Shivkumar, a good leg spinner of promise. But you see, spinners don't mature overnight. It is a long tedious process taking 2-3 years to mature and to get the nuances of spin bowling it takes about 5 years. When I played my first Test at the age of 25, I had graduated in all the departments of spin bowling. Now there are a lot of things that have come into play: heavier bats, technically well modulated fielding, 200 % physical fitness. If you want to become adept in the art of spin bowling, you've got to take these factors into cognizance and develop your skills accordingly.

The net sessions do not contain this. But every weekend we play what is known as a situation match. The batting team has to get 70 runs in 10 overs with six wickets in hand. We ask the captain to set the field and the spinners are asked to bowl according to the situation. This will to a great extent make the bowler think what sort of field to place and what sort of bowling to adopt. Sometimes it is thought to be prudent enough to continue this in the nets also but this is during the summer coaching, not in the regular session.