Wrist-spinners are not any more a luxury in IPL and are in demand as performances of Rashid Khan, Imran Tahir among others suggest
Gone are the days when leg-spinners were called a luxury. The trend has changed big time today. They are not luxuries any more. They have become a necessity.
In an era where the bats are bigger, the edges fatter, boundaries smaller, pitches flatter and almost all the rules in batsman's favour, the teams have found a new like for leg-spinners.
Don't be surprised if you go through the squads of different Indian Premier League teams and find more than two leg-spinners in each of them.
Interestingly, the leggies have outnumbered the finger-spinners — the offies and left-armers — who were once heavily relied upon for their miserly nature of not giving away the runs.
Eyebrows were raised when a few teams went mad after an unknown quantity from an Associate nation – Rashid Khan, who is now part of Sunrisers Hyderabad.
More so, he wasn't seen much and he came from Afghanistan, who don't play big nations and shelling out Rs 4 crore seemed to be a funny idea.
And look what he did in his first two games. The 18-year-old has impressed one and all straight away by getting two wickets on his IPL debut against Royal Challengers Bangalore. He then followed it up with a man-of-the-match performance against Gujarat Lions in Hyderabad by taking 3/19, taking his wickets tally to five wickets in a couple of games.
Khan has got a great control over his wrist spin and he is someone who doesn't give away loose deliveries easily and forces the batsman committing mistakes while giving them some juicy flight.
Afghanistan coach Lalchand Rajput has some words about his player's talent. "Rashid is deceptive. He bowls a good flight and has control over his leg spin. Not just that, he mixes up his deliveries and keeps the batsmen guessing."
Narrating an incident where the leggie was all over Ireland in Greater Noida where the youngster took five wickets including three in one over. "He was unplayable. The way he bowled, even some big batsmen were seen struggling. He is a modern day leg-spinner," said Rajput.
It is not only Khan, but also Imran Tahir (RPS), Amit Mishra (DD), Adam Zampa (RPS), Rahul Chahar (RPS), Pravin Tambe (SRH) are among the most-sought after leggies, especially in T20.
Former Rest cricketer and a master of the art Sairaj Bahutule is happy with the way the leg-spin has evolved in the last few years.
"I am very happy that the leg-spin has evolved in the IPL. That leg-spinners have got variations. The intent of a leggie is good and disguising. It is hard for batsmen to play shots, also there is hardly any reaction for batsman. There is not much time to settle as things go quickly also depends on the situation," he said.
Going into the technicalities on the success behind leggies, Bahutule said: "It is also more so because of the Kookabura ball, which is good for the leg-spinnners. It also turns more and dips much more than finger spinners and all the parabolas involved which helps the leggies."
Bahutule revealed it is not just leggies but the wrist-spinners. "Look at Kuldeep Yadav, who is doing so well. It is an advantage for the leggie as he has got the flipper, top spin, googly, the quicker ones. The batsman cannot just predict and he has to go just but his instincts.
"They have got braver, thanks to the belief that has been instilled by the captains who have given them the liberty to bowl with freedom. They will be giving runs but also pick up wickets," he added.
Leggies to the fore
Mumbai Indians: Shreyas Gopal, Karn Sharma
Rising Pune Supergiant: Imran Tahir, Rahul Chahar, Adam Zampa
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Yuzvendra Chahal, Samuel Badree
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Rashid Khan, Pravin Tambe
Delhi Daredevils: Murugan Ashwin, Amit Mishra
Kings XI Punjab: Pardeep Sahu, KC Cariappa, Rahul Tewatia
Kolkata Knight Riders: Piyush Chawla
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5
No. of wickets Sunrisers Hyderabad leg-spinner Rashid Khan from Afghanistan has got in his only two IPL games. His 3/19 fetched him a man of the match against Gujarat Lions.
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