'Spin cupboard not bare, thought process is bare'

I would like to refute the common notion that there is a dearth of quality spinners in India. The situation is not as bad as it is made out to be. However, I cannot help but feel that the selectors are looking in the wrong places - success cannot be achieved by recalling familiar old hands but by looking deeply at the domestic scene for genuine, new potential.They do exist but are we interested in finding them? At present, the selection logic appears lop-sided. The spin cupboard is not bare. The thought process is bare. The selectors have created an artificial paucity of spinners.
For starters, the captain's preferences override the selection committee in India. It is either this captain's team or that captain's team - when are we going to hold the selectors, who are paid for their job, accountable for their decisions? The captains, after all, are pulled up whenever the team does badly. The selectors, meanwhile, have a smug attitude.
I strongly feel the time has come to let selectors do their job without undue interference from the captains. It is worth a try, given the recent results. I know of certain selectors who do not utter a word in selection meetings. It is high time they were made accountable. Even in state team or age group selections, the 'cricket thought' - if I may call it that - is completely missing. There is a tendency to please too many people for too long. Some age-group selections are completely pointless exercises in certain states. This is a serious problem.
Remember, experience will always play for personal survival.Risks will be taken by the youth.But there is a caveat here: it depends on the type of cricket the youth are playing. The tendency to over-rely on T20 cricket, specifically the IPL, to look for quality Test or ODI spinners will not yield results this is because the craft of spin involves, first and foremost, guile and control. Control and confidence go hand in hand. You cannot learn such a difficult craft by merely bowling four overs in a match in your formative years. The ebb and flow of multi-day cricket is crucial to honing a young spinner's skills.
This is why the selectors must traverse the length and breadth of the country to seek out those who are bowling 30-40 overs a day on the first-class scene, and give them a long, hard look. Also, there should be an emphasis on playing for the country: just look at Australia, where the Sheffield Shield is paramount, not the Big Bash. Playing for Australia is the aim. Indian cricket's financial success has created a lopsided situation where the youth may not be willing to put in the hard yards anymore, because success may come through easy means and lesser workloads. If that continues, there will be a problem.
There are no short cut to success for a spinner. There are no short cuts to finding a genuine spinner either.
(Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi took 266 wickets from 67 Tests. He has also coached the national team and Ranji sides. He spoke to Partha Bhaduri)