Chennai, June 13: Legendary spinner Erappally Prasanna today said that Anil Kumble lost his bowling rhythm because of sticking to a wrong line but was confident that the star leg spinner would return to the squad for the home series against New Zealand. Speaking to reporters at the MAC Spin Foundation here last night, he said that "Kumble is a world class spinner like Muthiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne. Presently, he has varied in line. He is now working hard. Such classy spinners will definitely get back to their best."

Prasanna said that Kumble had, in recent times, allowed batsmen to take liberties. "However, the day is not far off when Kumble will get back to his mould, in time for the New Zealand tour and bowl alongside Harbhajan Singh."

On whether the lack of spin bowlers was a worldwide trend, he said the advent of one-day cricket had brought about a lot of changes, with countries introducing spinners in their ranks.

"The recent wins by West Indies against Australia were achieved by playing two spinners. If this was possible, India should also have double spin attack in their matches. A genuine spinner will be able to make a batsman dance to his tune".

He also shared his observations with former cricketers, L Sivarakrishnan and Robin Singh, all of whom are involved in honing the skills of 20 trainees at the MAC foundation.

They listed Piyush Chawla of Uttar Pradesh, Udit Patel of Karnataka, the son of former cricketer Brijesh Patel, Abhishek Sharma of Delhi and Kerala left arm spinner Prashant as talented spinners who could make it to the national side.

Bureau Report