The spinners have been in the trending for the last few years especially in the shortest format of the game. Not only T20 franchisees but also the International captains have been showing more trust on them and even the spinner also meeting with the expectations and emerging as match-winners for the teams.
Former India batsman Kris Srikkanth believes that the spinners are the key factor in the team’s success in the Indian Premier League (IPL) while mentioning R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, and Sunil Narine, who have been crucial in CSK, MI and KKR’s IPL title winning.
In his column for Times for India, Srikkanth wrote, “When a third format was added (T20) it was largely seen as the final nail in the coffin for spinners around the world. A good 14 years after the launch, the slow bowlers have found refreshing ways to combat broad bats, benign tracks and smaller boundaries to emerge as the key component not only T20s but white ball cricket in general.”
Former Indian cricketer further added, “We are into the 11th season of the most competitive T20 league in the world, and the numbers available now are a fair sample size. Among the top nine wickets takers, five are spinners. The impact bowlers are also among the most economical, that also suggests that the best way to curb run flow is to pick wickets.”
Monday’s (7 May) IPL 2018 fixture between the table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore will witness of a battle between Rashid (has 12 wickets in nine games) and Chahal (has 7 wickets in nine games) in Hyderabad.
Srikkanth wrote of the duo, “The second half of the tournament is where the wickets wear down a touch and the spinners have a bigger impact. Hyderabad have lost two games thus far and those are the only two games where, Rashid Khan had looked rusty. It is not Chahal’s fault that his team is not winning. To bowl in the toughest phases of the game and still be giving away only 7.81 runs per over, shows how crafty the youngster has been.”
He signed off by noting, “It should come as no surprise that the three teams to have won the title multiple times have had a tweaker spearheading their attack. If it was Ashwin who wrote the success scripts for Chennai Super Kings, it was Harbhajan Singh for Mumbai and Sunil Narine for Kolkata. And what’s more important is that spinners develop with age, add more tricks along the way and definitely command a bigger shelf life than speedsters. It is only logical that franchises spend a huge amount to build their bowling combination around these spinners.”
