‘Caribbean tracks have changed a lot’

On Thursday, when Anil Kumble and his Indian team take the field against the West Indies at the new ground (Sir Vivian Richards stadium) in the first Test, the 50-year-old Siva might be going back in time thinking about the difficult period he and his team had during that tour against the likes of Michael Holding, Andy Roberts and Malcolm Marshall. 

Anil Kumble is without doubt the best Indian spinner in history for the number of wickets he took, but to many Siva is a case of what might have been in leg-spin bowling. Probably, he could have won more matches for India, ended up with 10 times the Test-wicket haul that he finally had in his kitty (26 wickets from nine matches). It was a clear case of a promising career that never took off the way it should have. 

“It was a different ground at Antigua, St John’s, when I made my debut,” recalls Siva, now a member of the governing council of the Tamil Nadu Premier League. And it was a forgettable debut as the Chennai leg-spinner went wicketless in the 25 overs he bowled against the West Indies in one innings of the drawn Test.

“Those days, we got spin-friendly pitch only in Trinidad (Port of Spain) and Antigua was a batting wicket but everything else was fast…fast...fast,” said Siva. “Look at the wickets now, you need to only switch on the TV and watch the Caribbean Premier League matches, where bowlers such as Sunil Narine are turning the ball square on every wicket.”

The former Indian international, who has 15 ODI wickets from 16 matches, said the West Indies board had done nothing to restore the fast-bowling tradition in the Caribbean.

It took Siva more than a year after his Antigua debut to play his second Test for India and what he did in that match and series against England in Mumbai is history — man of the match for his 12-wicket ‘taandava’ at the Wankhede and the man of the series award for his 23 wickets. 

Today, Siva’s tribe is vanishing, though the former Indian international rates Yuzvendra Chahal as an exciting prospect.