Were the 90s and 00s Indian teams better at playing spin than Virat Kohli's side?

[Nil Dhumrojal]

Title says it all. Let's discuss.

 

[SunRay]

Is it even up for a debate?

 

[Bilal7]

Is the elephant larger than the goldfish?

 

[Adil_94]

The Indian teams of the 90s and 00s dominated peak Warne and Murali. They were great players of spin .

 

[Aman]

Kohli's India crumbled to SOK and Lyon...

 

[Drreddymd]

Kohli's India crumbled to SOK and Lyon...

Sok single handedly destroyed india. This is monty circa mumbai 2012

 

[Drreddymd]

India crumbled against herath when they couldnt score 170 chasing last in galle.

They r suspect against spin any way

 

[Nil Dhumrojal]

India crumbled against herath when they couldnt score 170 chasing last in galle.

They r suspect against spin any way

We wish we could have this type of pitch and win the toss

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Lol this is not a fair comparison. Indian team of 90's and 00's were way better in playing spin than the current set of players. Their techniques are best suited for LOI's these days.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

We wish we could have this type of pitch and win the toss

This is why I said Bangladesh can beat India if we give them a turning track. 1 match test series proves nothing. We need to play more 3 match test series to determine that.

 

[JaDed]

Yes but this team plays pace(not swing) better compared to the 90's one.Also its not only about Indian teams,Aus used to play swing better in 90's and 2000s.

The only teams which have considerably improved in "their" existing strength I guess are Saffers and England.

 

[Nil Dhumrojal]

This is why I said Bangladesh can beat India if we give them a turning track. 1 match test series proves nothing. We need to play more 3 match test series to determine that.

Still we can't as we can't handle pressure situation at the better end

 

[TestMatch]

I think things are a bit more nuanced.

In the 90s, Azharuddin, Sidhu, Laxman, Tendulkar and Ganguly feasted on Sri Lankan spin. But Murali wasn't that good in those days, and those test matches were batting feasts for both sides.

People then point to Australia's 97 tour of India as being "proof of subcontinent players being good vs spin". Sure, Kumble bamboozled the Aussies and Warnie had no effect on India; India won that series comfortably. But I don't think India were really tested by spin in this series; Warnie had no help at all. All his big guns stayed at home.

And look what happened when Pakistan toured India soon after. Kumble murders Pakistan (didn't he pick up 10 wickets in an innings?), but Saqlain Mushtaq - more familiar with these conditions than Warne - absolutely knocked down all the Indian batsmen. Spin killed everyone, and the series only offered a lone, dogged ton by Tendy and some kind of epileptic fit of a ton by Afridi.

Other people say India's class vs spin really starts in the early 00s. They point to Austraila's 2001 tour where the Aussies lose even with McWarne. Yet Murali, now an ATG, totally bamboozles India some months later. Here Harbie Singh had no effect on the Sri Lankans, and Dravid and Ganguly couldn't score vs Murali.

Then, in 2005, a stronger India face a strong Sri Lanka, in India. Sri Lanka are clueless vs Harbie and Kumble, who spin them out, but the Indian batsmen are equally confused versus Murali, except Laxman and Tendulkar.

I think in the 90s and early 00s, aggressive sloggers had fluke successes vs spin in India (Hayden, Afridi, Sehwag), whilst the only consistently reliable Indians vs spin were Tendy and Laxman, who weren't exceptional, but dogged enough to outperform the nonsense foreign teams were doing vs Kumble/Harbie.