Magic in their wrists

Shreyas Gopal sprinted in joyous bewilderment, his hands cupping his face. He had dismissed two of the best batsmen in world cricket -- Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers -- in the 2019 Indian Premier League. His success had reiterated the belief that wrist spinners can be used as an effective weapon against the domination of bat in shorter formats.

The Karnataka leg-spinner is not in the scheme of things as far as the World Cup is concerned but the time couldn’t be better for wrist spinners than the present one. For the longest, wrist spinners have stayed under the shadow of finger spinners. After two legends, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble walked into the sunset, leg spin too faded away for some time. Off-spinners became the preferred choice in teams worldwide. In fact, after Kumble, till the 2015 World Cup, India tried out three leg spinners -- Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, and Karn Sharma -- but they were never able to recreate the same magic.

The statistics will surprise few. Spin has often faced a step-motherly treatment to fast bowling. Through the late 70s and 80s, fast bowling dominated and any spin in one-day cricket came as the last resort. Pakistan’s Abdul Qadir single-handedly kept leg spin alive at that time. The maverick in Warne made leg spin fashionable during the 90s and 2000s, along with Kumble and Mushtaq Ahmed. Warne spoke in his autobiography about the brotherhood among the leg-spinners against the notion of it being a dying art. They wanted to ensure the knowledge of the craft remained within the game. Together they revived the legacy of wrist spin. Their retirements sent their clan in a downward spiral but it proved to be temporary. Post the 2015 World Cup, and with the impact of T20, teams looked for options to check the increasing flow of runs. It prompted the resurgence of wrist spin once again.

A cursory look at the world ODI bowler rankings attests to the fact. Three leg-spinners and one unorthodox wrist spinner feature in the top 10. Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan (second), South African Imran Tahir (third), Yuzvendra Chahal (eighth) and Kuldeep Yadav (seventh) are the ones teams would be wary of in the ODI World Cup. Their ability to take wickets at any stage of the game makes them formidable.

India was among the first team to unleash the power of leg-spin again. The reliable duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were not that impactful in the shorter formats, as they were on spin-friendly wickets at home in Tests. The flashpoint came in the 2017 Champions Trophy final where the duo conceded 137 runs in combined 18 overs and finished wicketless.

In the Sri Lanka tour that followed, they were replaced by Yadav and Chahal. The two were fielded together in the final, a rarity in Indian cricket. Credit should be given to the Indian captain Virat Kohli who believed in the potential of wrist spinners to work their way through the middle overs, take wickets and keep the run flow in check.

The spin-twins didn’t disappoint. Ashwin played his last ODI in June 2017 and Jadeja, who only recently made his way back, is best seen as a third spinner in the World Cup.

What works for wrist-spinners in the middle overs is their ability to take wickets and spin the ball both ways. With pitches becoming batsmen friendly, and boundaries smaller, it is difficult to stop a batsman from plundering runs, especially in the middle overs. A wrist spinner can impart more revolutions on the ball and thereby get more turn besides bringing in more variety.

Chahal and Yadav have been fine ambassadors of wrist spin. A look into the statistics further clears out things. In the last 28 ODIs they have played together, Yadav has taken 60 wickets at an average of 19.98 with a strike rate of 24.20. Chahal has picked 43, at an average of 28.41 and strike rate of 33.79. In fact, the two have played a big role in India’s overseas victories in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

In the overs between 11 and 40, Yadav spearheaded the role of a wicket-taker with a better average than Chahal. Yadav boasts of 67 wickets at an average of 23.01 and economy of 4.68. Chahal, on the other hand, has 46 wickets at an average of 29.95 and economy 4.93. Since Yadav made his ODI debut in June 2017, India’s wrist spinners have picked 153 wickets at an economy of 4.97 and strike rate of 28.28.

“It’s a high-risk and high reward proposition to have a leg-spinner,” averred Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, the former Indian leg-spinner.

Still, the trend was quickly picked by other countries, especially with the World Cup hosts England doling out flat pitches and conditions gravitating to spin in the last two Champions Trophy tournaments. For the first time in the World Cup, 12 wrist spinners will be in fray as frontline options, barring for Bangladesh and the West Indies.

The biggest example is of defending champions Australia who have won the past editions on the strength of fast bowling. Today Australia is mulling the option of fielding leg-spinner Adam Zampa along with off-spinner Nathan Lyon.

“We’ve made a note that it is going to be very crucial stopping spinners getting wickets through the middle overs of this World Cup and how we are going to have to play spin well,” Zampa told Cricket Australia website.

“The last three or four years you have seen the game change and spinners have come into the game a bit more, and I think that is something we have struggled with, playing against spin 12-18 months ago.”

Many have predicted this to be a World Cup of bowlers. Wrist-spinners will be keen to spin a magic web of their own.