The IPL 2020 begins from September 19 in the UAE.
The thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be played in the UAE from September 19. With the surfaces in the country being a lot on the slower side, spinners will have a major role to play as the tournament progresses. As the pitches are slow but don’t have enough cracks on the surface, the wrist spinners will have an edge over the finger spinners.
Almost all the teams have wrist spinners in their squad despite not knowing at the time of the auction that the tournament will have to be moved out of India. The teams that instill enough confidence on their wrist spinners and take the best out of them will have a better chance at the title win that the others.
IPL 2020: COC Predicted Best Playing XI for Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 13
There are close to ten wrist spinners participating in IPL 13 and Team COC has chosen five of them, who are most likely to impress with their skills in the tournament.
Here are the 5 wrist spinners who could impress in upcoming IPL
PIYUSH CHAWLA (CSK)
A veteran leg-spinner who has proven his mettle in the IPL time and again, Piyush Chawla will be representing the Chennai Super Kings for the first time this season. He was among the 7 spinners that CSK has in their squad for IPL 2020.
The 31-year-old from Uttar Pradesh is the joint third-highest wicket-taker in the IPL. He has picked 150 wickets in 156 innings. He has conceded at 7.82 runs per over with a bowling average of 20.82.
Chawla prefers to bowl a flatter trajectory and has well-disguised googlies and has managed to deceive the best with his variations time and time again.
Now that CSK’s leading Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has opted out of the IPL in UAE, Chawla will have to be consistent with his performances and take the role of the leading spinner. He will be accompanied by the likes of Imran Tahir, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Mitchell Santner if CSK goes in with a spin-heavy attack.
AMIT MISHRA (DC)
Delhi Capitals’ leggie Amit Mishra is known for picking up hat-tricks in the IPL. He will bring all his experience into the Capitals bowling attack and will lead their spin team that also includes Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Sandeep Lamichhane, and Lalit Yadav.
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Mishra will begin the tournament as the leading wicket-taker as Lasith Malinga is not available for MI in IPL 2020. The spinner has picked 157 wickets in 147 innings so far at an average of 24.19. He has an economy rate of 7.35, which is impressive for a leg-spinner.
The 37-year-old likes to play with his slow, flighted leggies and bring the batsman forward. He also has an impressive quicker googly as a variation between a few dollies. He might as well end the tournament going past Malinga’s tally of 170 wickets.
He needs to take 14 wickets in a minimum of 14 games in the tournament, which is not difficult by his standards.
KULDEEP YADAV (KKR)
The left-arm unorthodox spinner from Uttar Pradesh, Kuldeep Yadav, has made it big after making waves in the IPL for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Initially picked by the MI, he went to the KKR even before making his debut. He became a premier spinner in the Indian circuit with his variations that could not be read easily from the batting end.
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Yadav has picked 39 wickets in 39 innings for KKR. He has a slightly higher economy of 8.33 but makes a huge impact against players who are not very good against spin. He made his international debut on the back of his performances in the IPL and continues to pose the same threat in IPL 2020.
He is one of the most suited bowlers to bowl in UAE. He flights the ball over the batsman’s eye-line and gets it to dip close to the batsman. The pitches will not go against the bounce he generally gets after pitching but will in fact aid the turn. His prime forte is to deceive the batsmen in the air and make them play false shots. He is expected to reap great rewards in IPL 2020.
YUZVENDRA CHAHAL (RCB)
Yuzvendra Chahal forms the ‘Kul-Cha’ pair with Kuldeep Yadav in the Indian national side. Both these spinners got their dues at the highest level based on their performances in the IPL.
Chahal plays half the league stage in the smallest ground in the IPL, the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and comes out on top more often than not. He has achieved a lot of success despite the batsmen having an edge over him with the smaller boundaries.
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In the IPL, he has picked up exactly 100 wickets in just 83 innings. He bowls at an economy rate of 7.78 and it takes a lot to keep the rate below 8 despite bowling in Bengaluru for a major chunk of those 83 innings. He averages 23.18 with the ball and has a strike rate of just 17.87.
His success comes from the fact that he makes the batsman reach for the ball and uses all the might to clear the fence. He tosses up delivery around the good length and manages to get a good bounce off the wicket. It takes a big heart to pitch up deliveries on a small ground and Chahal has mastered the art.
He is expected to perform even better in UAE with the grounds being bigger and the pitches aiding his style of bowling.
RAHUL CHAHAR (MI)
The youngster from Rajasthan is a find of the Rising Pune Supergiant put to good use by the Mumbai Indians. He performed well for the Mumbai side in 2019 and made his international debut on the back of those performances.
IPL 2020: COC Predicted Best Playing XI for Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 13
Rahul Chahar is yet to have the big numbers in IPL but looks matured enough to impress in IPL 2020. He bowls a lot quicker than the other leggies and pushes the batsmen on the back foot rather than bringing them forward.
His pace makes the batsman think quicker. The extra turn available on the UAE pitches will make Chahar even more dangerous. He will MI’s leading wrist-spinner for IPL 2020.