India - two spinners and one dilemma
Rahul Dravid’s got a bit of a job on his hands even before India’s crucial match against West Indies gets under way - getting the right combination on the park. There’s the pitch to consider and fortunately Ahmedabad’s strips have played the best of the tournament. There’s the dew factor to consider - something that barely came into effect in the early part of the tournament, but is now such an issue that the ICC has taken to spraying the outfield with APSA-80, a chemical used in the farming industry to counter excessive dew.
In normal circumstances India would prefer to play two spinners against the West Indies. Traditionally, the West Indies have been weaker against spin than pace, and though India have two offspinners, they are different bowlers in that Harbhajan Singh relies on bounce and sharp turn to beat batsmen while Ramesh Powar is slower through the air and uses variations in loop and flight to pick up his wickets. Ideally, India would like to play both of them, but not if they’re going to be bowling with a ball that more closely resembles a cake of soap left on the floor of a shower stall too long. More
Courtesy: Cricinfo