Indian team will have to soldier along without the General

What does a side do when its main strike bowler is rendered hors de combat for a fairly lengthy period of time? It just has to carry on without him of course but the results could well be different.

That will be the thought uppermost in the minds of the Indian cricket team at the moment. Now that it has been disclosed that Anil Kumble is going to be out of action for four to six months, they will just have to soldier along without him. And as luck would have it, there are a number of international engagements during this period, starting with the Australian tour of India, continuing with the tri series in Sharjah and ending with the tour of Zimbabwe.

But then this is not exactly a new situation for Indian cricket. From the thirties to the nineties, now and then the main strike bowler has had to cry off for various reasons. And it has not been a very happy scenario for the team.

In the first decade of Indian Test cricket, the main bowlers were Mohd Nissar and Amar Singh. On one occasion, Nissar could not play and Amar Singh had to trundle on his own. He responded gallantly to send down 67.3 overs to bag eight wickets (seven of them in the first innings) but India lost the match.

In the forties, the main bowlers were Lala Amarnath and Vinoo Mankad and they did not miss a Test during the period. By the early fifties, Amarnath had retired but by this time Subash Gupte and Ghulam Ahmed had joined Mankad to form the first great Indian spin trio. Throughout the decade, at least two of the three played the Tests. On one famous occasion, at Leeds in 1952, Ghulam had to carry the attack on his own since Mankad, following a misunderstanding with the Board, was not selected for the tour of England. The general opinion was that India could have won the match had Mankad played. Ultimately, India ended up losing by seven wickets.

By the early sixties, the trio had retired but by now Salim Durrani was the country's champion bowler for a few years and with Chandu Borde and Bapu Nadkarni in support, the bowling was still in good hands. And in the mid sixties, the spin quartet was formed and there was nothing really to worry about till the end of the seventies. It was an indeed an embarrassment of riches in the spin department - it was simply an embarrassment as far as the seam attack was concerned - and with at least three bowlers among the quartet always available, Indian cricket did not really encounter any major bowling problems.

By 1980, the spin quartet had broken up but Kapil Dev had arrived on the scene and he alone seemed to make up for the four bowlers. With little or no support at the other end, he picked up the wickets as Indian cricket, basking in his glory, scored some notable triumphs. His opening partners were varied - Madan Lal, Karsan Ghavri, Chetan Sharma, Manoj Prabhakar as well as many others but as long as Kapil was there, there seemed nothing to worry about. He missed only one match, and that through a strange disciplinary action, and India drew that rather lucklustre Test.

Kapil's career drew to a close in the early 90s, but by now there was talk of a new spin trio in Kumble, Venkatpathi Raju and Rajesh Chauhan. This however did not quite materialise. Chauhan, coming under scrutiny for his action, faded away. Raju, despite doing reasonably well, did not get enough chances. That left only Kumble as the spearhead of the spin attack and he was joined by Javagal Srinath who had emerged as the other main wicket taker. The Karnataka duo represented the chief Indian bowling hopes through the decade and in the absence of the medium pacer through injury, Kumble carried the country's fortunes on his tall, proportionate frame. He emerged as the leading bowler and became the highest wicket taker among all Indian spin bowlers with his tally of 276 wickets being next only to Kapil's and the run included the epic all ten against Pakistan at New Delhi in February 1999. It did matter to some degree that he could not command the same respect in Tests abroad and that a large proportion of his wickets were taken at home. But overall there has been no doubt that he has been the No 1 Indian strike bowler in the last decade.

There is no doubt that the team will miss Kumble, who played 60 Tests on the trot since his comback in 1992. In fact it has already felt his absence in the three Tests it has played without him this season. It is reasonable to assume that had Kumble played, Bangladesh would have not got 400 in the one off Test at Dhaka. The spin attack has looked stingless in his absence. When Kumble is bowling, there is always the hope that a wicket is imminent. One really can't say that about anyone else - not even the indefatigable Srinath. The Indian team will just have to soldier along without their general. In the meantime, his absence gives the selectors the opportunity to groom some young spinners - and there are a few around.