Thread by @shrikanth_krish

Michael Atherton on Sky is always perceptive

Makes a good point on how DRS has revived orthodox finger spin

Before DRS, batsmen had a wider forward defence
Padding up was a lot more common

DRS forces you to use the bat
Finger spinners no longer need huge turn to get people out

The great era for finger spin was before the 1970s when wickets were uncovered

In the 50s-60s you had Jim Laker, Lance Gibbs

And yes, you had Bedi, Prasanna in India starting late 60s

Once the wickets started getting covered and turning a lot less (except in subcontinent), finger spin simply went out of the window

Someone like Underwood was a terror on uncovered wickets. Would've been far less effective had he started playing a decade later in late 70s

I don't recall too many fine finger spinners who debuted post mid 70s till the 2000s

Men like Emburey, Shivlal Yadav made up the numbers. Not a major threat

Leg spin on the other hand remained potent. E.g. Qadir in the 80s

In the 2000s, off-spin had a revival.

But these people were not finger spinners. But unorthodox doosra bowlers.

Saqlain, Harbhajan and Saeed Ajmal being the notable names

Murali was an out-and-out wrist spinner.

It is only post DRS (2010 - ) that finger spinners had their big revival

The present decade has seen many fine finger spinners

Graeme Swann
Nathan Lyon
Ravi Jadeja
Ravi Ashwin

All would've struggled pre DRS

Esp Swann / Lyon who don't get to bowl on v helpful tracks often