New Delhi: Ravichandran Ashwin retired. Ravindra Jadeja is nearing the end of an illustrious career. Axar Patel has lost his bite, Kuldeep Yadav his magic, Varun Chakravarthy his mystery, and Washington Sundar he can only be a contained bowler at best. India’s famous spin factory is showing worrying signs of drying up, and the cupboard suddenly looks alarmingly bare. In the search for wicket-taking bowlers, there are few convincing options. Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, despite bowling three no-balls in the second T20I against England and being dropped for the remaining matches, has been picked as Varun Chakravarthy’s replacement for the Zimbabwe tour.Eyebrows were raised when the selectors picked the 33-year-old Madhya Pradesh off-spinner. Saransh Jain and Uttar Pradesh leg-spinner Zeeshan Ansariwho had not played a first-class match in six years, in the India A team for the tour of Sri Lanka.Times of India. com can confirm that Jain earned his selection after impressing the former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh during a specialized camp for emerging spinners held at the BCCI Center of Excellence in March. Zeeshan, meanwhile, caught the eye of head coach Gautam Gambhir in Chandigarh, where he was one of the seven net bowlers with the Indian team ahead of the one-off Test against Afghanistan. With few proven options left in the pipeline, India’s spin department looks worryingly thin.The debacle in Ireland and EnglandIndia’s 6-0 loss in the T20I series in Ireland and England has alarm bells ringing about the team’s performances.In T20 cricket, over seven to fifteen is often described as the tactical core of the game. This is where quality spin attacks break up partnerships, slow down the scoring rate and force batsmen to make mistakes. India’s spinners have not performed either consistently in recent weeks.
India’s Axar Patel reacts after being hit for six during the 1st IT20 match between Ireland and India at the Civil Service Cricket Club on June 26, 2026 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
In the first T20I against Ireland, the hosts were bowled out at 51 for 4 in 7.1 overs. What followed was a stand of 64 runs off just 44 balls between Lorcan Tucker and Gareth Delany that completely changed the complexion of the innings. India managed just one wicket between the 7th and 15th overs, the phase where spinners are expected to squeeze runs and pick up wickets. Axar Patel eventually finished with 2 for 33, but his two wickets came in the 18th and 20th overs, long after Ireland had rebuilt. Washington Sundar, meanwhile, leaked 19 runs in a single over, further reducing the pressure.The second T20I followed a similar pattern. Ireland were 48 for 3 after 7.3 overs, but Harry Tector and Ben Calitz added 65 runs in 43 balls for the fourth wicket. Axar Patel, India’s only specialist spinner in the game, returned figures of 0 for 28 from four overs but could not find the breakthrough India desperately needed.England executed this plan even more ruthlessly. In the second T20I, England were reduced to 51 for 3 in 4.4 overs. However, India failed to capitalize. Jacob Bethell and Tom Banton stitched a 67-run partnership off 50 balls, putting the game away.
India’s Varun Chakravarthy tries to catch it
India’s spin trio of Ravi Bishnoi (0 for 60), Axar Patel (1 for 20) and Varun Chakravarthy (1 for 37) conceded 117 runs in their combined 12 overs while managing just two wickets. In addition, India took only one wicket between 7 and 15, allowing England to dictate the middle phase.The third T20I offered only marginal improvement. India claimed three wickets between 7 and 15, but none came for spin. Axar Patel (1 for 49) and Varun Chakravarthy (0 for 35) combined for a single wicket through seven overs, and even that came out of the crucial rebuilding phase.In the fourth T20I, England barely needed to negotiate the middle. Chasing a modest target, they wrapped up the contest in 13.5 overs, making India’s spin attack largely irrelevant. Axar Patel (0 for 24) and Washington Sundar (0 for 19) went wicketless while conceding 43 runs in just three overs.The fifth T20I was perhaps the most alarming. England amassed 257 for 3, with Axar Patel, India’s lone spinner, suffering the costliest spell of his T20I career, conceding 63 runs in four wicketless overs.
We have a good bunch of tall fast bowlers who can hit the right areas and still create opportunities with the old ball, even when there is not much help from the wicket or the conditions.
Shubman Gill | Test and ODI captain
Doesn’t look good in ODIsIn ODIs too, one of India’s biggest concerns in the build-up to the 2027 World Cup has been their inability to bat consistently in the middle order.The trend has been evident throughout the recent bilateral series.Against Australia, India managed just four wickets in that phase in three ODIs, while New Zealand exposed the problem further as India went wicketless in central Rajkot and Indore, losing both matches.
India’s Kuldeep Yadav reacts after a delivery during the second ODI cricket match between India and Afghanistan in Lucknow, India, Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
South Africa provided some relief, with Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna sharing nine wickets in three matches.The Afghanistan series produced mixed returns, with India taking five middle wickets each in Dharamsala and Lucknow, but just one in Chennai. With Kuldeep apparently toppling the pecking order, captain Shubman Gill he believes the solution lies in tall pacers like Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana and Gurnoor Brar, whose bounce can create opportunities even on flat tracks.
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“We have a good number of tall fast bowlers who can hit the right areas and still create opportunities with the old ball, even when there is not much help from the wicket or the conditions,” Gill said after the Chennai ODI.The concern is not only about form, but succession. For decades, India could rely on a conveyor belt of match-winning spinners to control games across formats. Today, that production line seems to have dried up dramatically. With the 2027 ODI World Cup and next year’s T20 World Cup cycle fast approaching, India’s challenge is no longer just to revive the current culture, but to ensure that the next generation can once again be the team’s greatest weapon rather than its greatest weakness.