New Delhi: Ravichandran Ashwin has 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 can only be a containing bowler at best. India’s famed spin factory is showing worrying signs of running dry, 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 33-year-old Madhya Pradesh off-spinner Saransh Jain and Uttar Pradesh leg-spinner Zeeshan Ansari, who had not played a first-class match in six years, in the India A squad for the Sri Lanka tour.TimesofIndia. com can confirm that Jain earned his selection after impressing former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh during a specialist camp for emerging off-spinners conducted at the BCCI Centre 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 is looking worryingly thin.The debacle in Ireland and EnglandIndia’s 6-0 loss across the T20I series in Ireland and England has had alarm bells ringing over the team’s performances.In T20 cricket, overs seven to fifteen are often described as the game’s tactical heart. This is where quality spin attacks break partnerships, slow the scoring rate and force batters into mistakes. India’s spinners have done neither consistently in recent weeks.
Axar Patel of India reacts after being hit for six during the 1st IT20 match between Ireland and India at Civil Service Cricket Club on June 26, 2026 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
In the first T20I against Ireland, the hosts were reeling at 51 for 4 in 7.1 overs. What followed was a 64-run stand off just 44 balls between Lorcan Tucker and Gareth Delany that completely changed the complexion of the innings. India managed only one wicket between overs 7 and 15, the phase where spinners are expected to squeeze runs and pick up wickets. Axar Patel eventually finished with 2 for 33, but both his wickets came in the 18th and 20th overs, long after Ireland had rebuilt. Washington Sundar, meanwhile, leaked 19 runs in a single over, further easing the pressure.The second T20I followed a similar template. 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 lone 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 that plan even more ruthlessly. In the second T20I, England were reduced to 51 for 3 in 4.4 overs. Yet again, India failed to capitalise. Jacob Bethell and Tom Banton stitched a 67-run partnership off 50 balls, taking the game away.
India’s Varun Chakravarthy attempts a catch
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 only two wickets. More tellingly, India picked up just one wicket between overs 7 and 15, allowing England to dictate the middle phase.The third T20I offered only marginal improvement. India did claim three wickets between overs 7 and 15, but none came through spin. Axar Patel (1 for 49) and Varun Chakravarthy (0 for 35) combined for just one wicket across seven overs, and even that came outside the crucial rebuilding phase.By the fourth T20I, England barely needed to negotiate the middle overs. 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 piled up 257 for 3, with Axar Patel, India’s lone spinner, enduring the most expensive 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
Not looking good in the ODIsIn the ODIs as well, one of India’s biggest concerns in the lead-up to the 2027 World Cup has been their inability to consistently strike in the middle overs.The trend has been evident across recent bilateral series.Against Australia, India managed just four wickets in that phase across three ODIs, while New Zealand exposed the problem further as India went wicketless in the middle overs in Rajkot and Indore, losing both matches.
India’s Kuldeep Yadav reacts after bowls 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 across three games.The Afghanistan series produced mixed returns, with India taking five middle-over wickets each in Dharamsala and Lucknow but only one in Chennai. With Kuldeep seemingly slipping down the pecking order, captain Shubman Gill believes the solution lies in tall pacers such as Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana and Gurnoor Brar, whose bounce can create opportunities even on flat pitches.
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“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’s not much help from the wicket or the conditions,” Gill said after the Chennai ODI.The concern is not merely 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 appears to have dried dramatically. With the 2027 ODI World Cup and next year’s T20 World Cup cycle fast approaching, India’s challenge is no longer just reviving the current crop but ensuring the next generation can once again make spin the team’s greatest weapon rather than its biggest weakness.
