“India lacks match winning spinners”

"According to me, the current Indian team does not have any match-winning spinner. Harbhajan Singh is the only bowler but he is not taking as many wickets as expected of him. Plus his absence from the tour of Sri Lanka left the team in doldrums. Spin is the weakest link in the Indian team for Sri Lanka tour," said Former India spinner Erapalli Prasanna.

"Definitely there is a void after Anil’s retirement. Harbhajan is a good bowler but is not among wickets. He could not go to Sri Lanka thus the absence of Kumble is really being felt now," he added.

"Our spin bowlers have performed reasonably well in the recent past. But tailormade pitches also helped them. Real test of their mettle would be on good sporting tracks abroad where you have to maintain consistency and I don’t think the current spin combination fits the bill.In Test cricket, the overs between 30-80 are the most important. You have to bowl really well and take maximum wickets. Here spinners play a major role and I am afraid that Dhoni’s team does not have experienced and effective spin bowlers who can dominate proceedings," Prasanna said.

"Pacers have replaced spinners. This is a refreshing change. Especially Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma are performing really well. But we must have good spinners as back up to balance the composition as spin has been our traditional strength," he said.

"Apart from (Muttiah) Muralitharan I don’t find any spinner in world cricket who can win matches on his own. I was quite impressed with Monty Panesar but after England team’s tour of India I was forced to change my opinion," he said.