When can you say that something is a true national tradition? Probably when a particular form of the art cuts through any region or religion everyone and everything across a country. If we considered the art of off-spin bowling, then we should not hesitate to say that it is the greatest ever tradition of Indian cricket.
It is an art that has been passed through various generations of the Indian cricket team. From Ghulam Ahmed to Ravindra Jadeja, there is no end to exceptional off-spinners who have contributed to the country in their style and talent. This is how this form of art has expanded to date.
In the history of the Indian cricket team, there were plenty of off-spinners that came and produced some exceptional spells and still, we have plenty of them in our country. Choosing the best top 5 spinners among all was quite a difficult task to do.
But somehow, we have managed to create a list of the top 5 off-spinners of all time, in the history of Indian cricket as per cricket latest news:
1. Erapalli Prasanna
Stout and short but cunning as a fox, Erapalli Prasanna was perhaps the best off-spinner in the 1970s era in the entire world.
When he used to bowl, he put a lot of thought into that. In his career, he played 49 test matches only but took a staggering 189 wickets. His bowling style was a bit unique with the brisk run-up and very quick arm movement, he used to deceive most batsmen with his style.
Prasanna was the first player who was the main architect behind winning a series against the New Zealand team for the first time in its history on New Zealand soil under the captaincy of Pataudi.
Australia was always considered as the graveyard of the off-spinners, but there also he had able to take 31 wickets from just 8 teat matches. Prasanna played his last test match in the year 1978 for India.
2. Harbhajan Singh
The Sardar from Jalandhar first made his presence with spectacular performances against the mighty Australians in 2001. In that series, he was able to take 31 wickets. To date, he is still considered the best bowler and highest wicket-taking off-spinner of all time in the Indian cricket team. In his entire career, he played 103 test matches and took 417 wickets.
He made his debut for the Indian team in the year 1998 as quite a skinny off-spinning bowler with a few batting skills and also as a tailender. He was also the first off-spin bowler to bowl a ‘doosra’.
His run-up was quite energetic and his bowling action was a bit open-chested. He could turn the ball quite and with the stiff bouncer, which most batsmen faced difficulty to face.
Harbhajan played many ODI matches for India as well but in 2015 he got retired from all formats but continued to play the IPL. He played his last IPL match for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2021.
3. Ravichandran Ashwin
Quite as tall as a off-spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin is a kind of modern off-spinners who plays all three formats of cricket.
He continues to play for India and he still holds much potential to play for at least 3 more years. Ashwin has a very good record in the test format and is the fastest bowler to take 250 wickets and also 300 wickets in the world in the test format.
He is not a bowler who relies on turning the ball because he mainly relies on line and length and his main balls are “top spin” and “carrom balls”. Ashwin is a bowler whose record is also quite good in subcontinental pitches but still struggles in green pitches like Australia and England.
To date, he played 42 test matches on Asian soil and took 263 wickets. He is also considered an all-rounder in the Indian team in test formats because of his good batting skills and saved the country many times just with his batting ability only, in various tight situations.
4. Srinivas Venkataraghavan
A perfect gentleman from Chennai( that time Madras), was one of the most underrated o-spinner in the 1970s cricket era.
Venkataraghavan was a very traditional style bowler but he was able to take 156 wickets from just 57 test matches. He used to bowl very quick through the air with a flight which trapped the batsmen while hitting the ball.
He was the player who helped the Indian team to get their first win on West Indies soil by taking 5 wickets by giving out just 95 runs in the year 1971. His other memorable contribution was against England in the Oval test match.
As an off-spinner, he was tall but always stayed out of the limelight in his entire career, but gave various memorable contributions in his short career. In 1983, he played his last match for team India.
5. Ghulam Ahmed
India saw the first great off-spinner in the 50s decade, quite tall with a slim figure and with a great side on the action. He utilized his tall figure quite well to deceive any batsmen in his era.
He was a bowler with great accuracy and line length and when the wicket was friendly, he became much more deadly.
In the year 1956, he took 7 wickets in an innings against Australia in Kolkata (then Calcutta) and ended that match with a great figure of 10/130. His memorable contribution was against England in the 1952 English summer, where he was able to take 15 wickets from just 4 test matches.
His career was quite short, just 22 test matches but took 68 wickets. He also got a chance of captaining the Indian team for 3 test matches, 1 against New Zealand and the last two against West Indies in the last series of his career in the 1958-59 West Indies series.
India has seen many great off-spinners in its history. There are still many off-spinners who are serving the Indian team. But the inclusion of all is not possible. After their contribution and statistics, we made this list of the top 5 Indian off-spinners of all time.
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