Spinning the tale in the IPL

There was a belief that Twenty20 cricket could mean the death knell for spinners. Better bats, stronger batsmen, shorter boundaries and the flighted ball were all designed to make the slow bowlers run for cover. It has now emerged that spinners have probably adapted best to this batsman-centric version of the game.

Thirty six games into the third edition of the Indian Premier League and the top three wicket-takers are Delhi Daredevils’s Amit Mishra, Deccan Chargers’s Pragyan Ojha and Chennai Super Kings’s Muttiah Muralitharan. The leg-spinner, the left-arm spinner and the off-spinner have bagged 39 wickets. Add to the list Harbhajan Singh, who is at No.6 and Shane Warne at No.8 in the wicket-takers list and the tally of the five spinners goes up to 59. In all, 51 wickets have been bagged by the five medium pacers in the top-10.

Venkatapathy Raju, the former left-arm spinner and ex-South Zone selector believes that the spinners have adapted well to the Twenty20 version of the game.

“Spinners are able to subtly change the pace and they exercise greater control. There is not enough pace on the ball when a batsmen, already forced to take risks, faces a spinner. It is not easy for batsmen to walk in and hit a spinner right away,” Raju told this paper.

Raju also believes that in the third edition of the IPL, the spinners will enjoy more success because of the wear and tear on most wickets. “Remember, the IPL is being played at the fag end of the domestic season. These wickets have seen a lot of cricket played on them. They will tend to be slow and help spinners,” Raju added. “The fact that captains, at times, are opening the attack with spinners speaks volumes of the faith in the slow bowlers,” Raju said.

Amit Mishra, the top wicket taker in this edition of the IPL, believes that a quality spinner who possesses variations cannot be written off. “It is important to go into the game with a positive mindset. You know that the batsmen are going to try and hit you. But if you can read the game well and outwit the batsmen then you can be successful. For example, I have worked hard on my googly but I use it sparingly and only when I believe that the batsman is least expecting it,” Mishra told DNA on Monday

Talking about opening the bowling, Mishra said, “Of course it is a challenge to bowl when the Power Play is on. But it is also great that captains are increasingly showing faith in spinners in the Twenty20. It gives me great satisfaction to beat batsmen in Twenty20,” Mishra added. 

Kings XI Punjab leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, picked in the World T20 squad during the IPL, believes that a spinner must look to attack. “In Twenty20 unless a spinner looks to attack he will not enjoy success. It is also very important to bowl to your field. Batsmen are looking for runs all the time and by attacking a spinner  only increasing his chance of getting wickets,” Chawla had told this paper. 

Erapalli Prasanna, the former off-spinner, reckons that spinners are getting accustomed to the Twenty20 game. “Yes, they are getting smarter,” Prasanna said. However, he believes that big turners have a better chance of being successful in Twenty20.
“If you look at Mishra and Ojha they turn the ball a lot away from the right-handed batsmen. Also, Mishra has a very good googly.

Spinners need to use their variations quickly in Twenty20 and the googly is a very effective one. Also Muralitharan can bowl the doosra well. These spinners pitch it on a good length, spin it away from the batsman and don’t allow much room,” Prasanna said.
However, Prasanna will give only 60 per cent of the credit to the spinners in Twenty20. “See the batsman is always looking to score runs and attack. So a spinner is at an advantage. Unlike in Test cricket, the batsman doesn’t have the luxury of time and cannot afford to leave deliveries. But a good spinner will be successful in any format,” he added.