'Power-plays reducing spinners' role in ODIs'

NEW DELHI: Power-plays, introduced as innovations in one-day cricket, had made life even more difficult for spinners who were forced to bowl defensively and avoid flighting the ball, says New Zealand's ace tweaker Daniel Vettori.

Fielding restrictions now apply for 20 overs in a one-day international, as against the 15 previously, and slow bowlers were finding it difficult to adapt to the change.

"The power-plays have made the balance of the game even more uneven in favour of batsmen and most spinners have to bowl defensively to keep the batsmen in check," Vettori said.

The length of the slower bowlers had seen a change since the innovation came into operation, the left-arm spinner said.

"The spinners are resorting to shortening their length to avoid being hit out of the park," he said.

The 27-year-old said spinners now needed to rely more on varying their pace and trajectory to be effective in the modern limited overs format.

"Most pitches around the world are pretty flat and spinners have to keep the batsmen guessing to be successful," the New Zealand vice-captain said.

The dew, which could be a major factor at day-night events such as the ongoing Champions Trophy, would also work against tweakers.

"The moisture on the pitch and the outfield would make it quite difficult to spin the ball," Vettori said. 

The role of a spinner in the one-day game has also undergone a change with the rules.

"Instead of looking for four or five wickets for 25 runs, a spinner now has to be happy with figures of one for 40 in 10 overs," Vettori said.

But the spinner, who has 167 one-day wickets in 173 games, said the key lay in adapting to the changing match situations.

"The best spinners always make a contribution to their teams, no matter how adverse the conditions are," he said.

"I enjoy watching Harbhajan Singh bowl as he proves his usefulness to the side under all conditions," the bespectacled spinner said.

Asked about the inspiration behind taking up spin bowling, he mentioned Australian legend Shane Warne as one of the reasons.

"Shane Warne has inspired many youngsters to take to spin bowling and I have also been heavily influenced by him," Vettori said.

He admitted that bowling spin was a difficult proposition in New Zealand where pitches tended to be seamer-friendly and grounds were small.

"There is a lot of difference in conditions in India and New Zealand and one has to bowl with a different attitude when playing in the two countries," Vettori, the fastest spinner to get to 100 Test wickets, said.

On left-arm spin being called a dying art, he said the discipline had not developed many variations as yet.

"A top class leg-spinner has several different balls in his repertoire. Off-spinners have also developed a 'doosra', but left-arm spinners have only the armer as a variation," he noted.