What happened to the left-arm spinner?

Whatever happened to this? Where has all this vanished? © Getty Images

Thanks to Rangana Herath and Shakib Al Hasan (and a cohort of other Bangladeshis), left-arm spinners had an excellent phase over the last few years. Unfortunately, the magic seems to have worn off as champions of the art have turned less and less effective in 2015. How bad has this year been for the practitioners of the art at the highest level? Abhishek Mukherjee analyses.

It all seemed rosy for left-arm spinners, especially over the past couple of years. Rangana Herath, of course, was the leader of the pack. A worthy successor of Muttiah Muralitharan, Herath tormented batsmen across the world with his wiles, racing to 263 wickets from 60 Tests. Shakib Al Hasan was there, as were his countrymen — all of whom seemed to be practitioners of left-arm spin.

Daniel Vettori made sporadic appearances. Pragyan Ojha and Ravindra Jadeja shared the burden for India. Abdur Rehman gave way to Zulfiqar Babar. West Indies threw Suliemann Benn and Veeraswamy Permaul in the mix. Monty Panesar appeared and vanished like a meteor. And South Africa tried to turn Robin Peterson into a regular.

In all, left-arm spin was on the rise before reaching an inexplicable, abysmal low in 2015. A close look may make this clear:

Left-arm spinners since 2000:

As is evident, 2011 to 2014 was the golden era of left-arm spin in this millennium. They have been taking wickets at the same rate this year as before, but at a worse average and strike rate.

But, then, to get a proper outcome, we need to pit them against their right-arm counterparts. One must remember that Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, and Muralitharan bowed out of cricket in the space of three years, leaving a gaping hole in the world of spin.

Almost all left-arm spinners have suffered a downfall during the era.

The numbers tell the story, especially for Herath —the man who had carried Sri Lanka on his shoulders throughout the early part of the decade. In the first four-year period Herath claimed 17 five-wicket hauls from 33 Tests (in other words, he took one every two Tests). This year he has three wickets from three Tests.

Bangladesh, the birthplace of many a left-arm spinner, had Shakib ruling roost for some time now. Unfortunately, it has been a horror year for Shakib the bowler, and Taijul Islam (albeit early in his career) has not been able to live up to the expectations either. Benn has been disappointing as well.

Ojha, Rehman, Jadeja, Panesar, and Peterson are out of their respective sides for various reasons. India has looked at Ravichandran Ashwin (and even Harbhajan Singh); South Africa has opted for Imran Tahir and Simon Harmer; England have tried out James Tredwell before settling on Moeen Ali; and Sri Lanka are toying with options beyond Herath.

Babar has meanwhile replaced Rehman, and for a moment it seemed his combination with Yasir Shah would match the Saeed Ajmal-Rehman pair. While Yasir has taken giant leaps in the world of cricket, Babar, despite a decent 2014, has not lived up to the same standards this year.

Right-arm spinners since 2000:

Obviously, there has not been a significant change in the fate of right-arm spinners. In fact, for the first time in the millennium have they taken over nine wickets per Test. The hero of this surge, of course, has been Yasir. His 2015 numbers (34 wickets at 23.64, strike rate 47.8, 6.8 wickets per Test has been phenomenal).

There have also been other unlikely stars who have contributed to the wickets-per-Test number. Mark Craig (12 in 3 Tests), Ashwin (10 in 2), Tredwell (5 in 1), and Harmer (7 in 1) have all contributed to the astonishing number.

(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)