Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly today said playing three fast bowlers in his team gave him greater flexibility and he would continue with them even at the cost of leaving out one specialist spinner. “We play three seamers that's why we are winning, Ganguly told PTI today. Suppose you have two seamers. They would bowl six overs each in the first spell, then you can't bring them back in the middle,” he said.
Ganguly said on flat wickets like the one here in Sharjah, bowling a spinner in the slog overs can prove costly though a bowler of the quality of Muthiah Muralitharan can be successful on any surface. “But on these wickets, a spinner might bowl three good balls and yet the batsman can come down and smash him for sixes,” he said, defending his decision not to include left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi in the earlier matches.

Joshi did not get a single match in the ICC Knock-Out tournament in Nairobi and played his first match here yesterday against Zimbabwe after Anil Kumble was ruled out due to a sore shoulder. He took one wicket conceding 44 runs in his 10 overs. Ganguly conceded it was not Joshi's fault that he was not being included in the playing eleven, but said he had to balance the team in a proper way and could not pack it with bowlers.

“As it is we have at least eight bowling options these days. If I am to have a spin option, I will any day prefer a batsman like Sachin Tendulkar who can bowl five overs of spin.”

Bureau Report