Anil Kumble at a city hotel on Saturday

Calcutta, May 29: The spin wing of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) finally took a definite step towards its functioning.

Erapalli Prasanna termed Saturday’s meeting in the city as “progressive” while Ravi Shastri felt it was important that the “process of implementation should take place”.

The spin wing committee was formed, comprising all those who attended today’s meeting — Sunil Gavaskar (chairman NCA), Bishan Singh Bedi, Prasanna, V.V. Kumar, Ravi Shastri, Anil Kumble and Brijesh Patel (director NCA).

BCCI secretary S. K. Nair will be the convenor while Gavaskar and Patel will be ex-officio members.

BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya said the spin wing will be under the NCA, and not an autonomous body. He added that the committee members will periodically visit camps for the under-15, under-17, under-19 and under-22 cricketers and also witness the inter-zonal academy tournament to spot talented cricketers.

Kumar is already working on the under-15 camp and it was decided that the academy tournament will be watched by Prasanna, Kumble, Padmakar Shivalkar and Raghuram Bhatt.

A four-week camp will then be held for the shortlisted spinners in September at the NCA, for which the coaches will be Bedi, Prasanna and Kumar. Kumble and Shastri will also attend the camp as and when they are available. A camp for talented wicketkeepers will be held simultaneously.

It was discussed that the wing should start with around 50 players — 10 from each zone — who will be shortlisted by the Talent Research Development Officers. The final number can then be pruned to 20.

The role of spinners in the middle-overs was also discussed. “The platform has been created for reviving the art of spin,” said Prasanna.

Sunil Gavaskar put it down well. “It is designed to enable budding youngsters to develop into international-class bowlers. Spin is an art which takes a long time to master.

“They will learn by interacting with the legends at the camp, and then further hone their skills on their own with inputs from seniors.”

Gavaskar said it was the duty of the coaches to monitor the action of rookies and give proper guidance to those with suspect action. “The basic idea is to make sure that anybody with doubtful action is given remedial advice when they are young.” he said.

Shastri lamented the “dearth of quality spinners” in domestic cricket and felt that the steps being taken were in the right direction.

“That two among the top three wicket-takers in Test cricket are spinners prove that they play a dominant role in the modern game,” Shastri said.

The topic obviously switched to his strained relationship with the BCCI and the way he was overlooked for the first two meetings of the spin wing. “Both of us, Dalmiya and myself, are mature gentlemen. There may be differences over principles and issues, but when it comes to the development of Indian cricket, it is of paramount importance to us.”

The former India skipper’s inclusion in the committee seems to be the first step in seeking his valuable experience.

“It think it’s the right step in the right direction and we’ll have to wait for a year or two for the results,” concluded Dalmiya.

Kumble plans

Kumble is all focussed on the Asia Cup in July. “I’m focussed on doing well in the Lanka meet,” he said. He added that he had not set any individual target for himself’ like 450 wickets in Tests.