The strangers at the gate: West Indies have three spinners India barely know
5 min readKolkataFeb 28, 2026 08:14 PM IST At the edge of the nets, Gudakesh Motie waited impatiently for a new box of balls. When he got one, he carefully inspected each one of them and ran his hands over them. He finally settled on the newest ball and bowled a couple of overs. Eight balls of finger spin; four of wrist spin. Among all the spinners India’s batsmen had duelled this series, he would be the strangest, a left-armer who could alternate between wrist and finger spin depending on the batsman’s orientation. It’s no gimmick, no wanton experiment-spree. West Indies’s highest wicket-taker this series (10 at 15.50) has a considerable degree of masterfulness in both. Naturally a finger spinner, he developed the wrist spin mutants to trouble left-handers. He has the one that slides in as well as the wrong’un. His finger spin to left-handers are not gilt-edged freebies either. He can give the ball a rip, toss it up from a height. Growing up, he was too short for his age and parents …









