The spinners are playing a huge role in T20 cricket, using their variations to confuse batsmen. Initially, lots of people use to think less of spinners, but now they have changed their opinion.
At first, everybody thought that spinners will be easy meat. But now, many spinners bowl in the Powerplays and death overs.
In the ongoing CLT20 2014, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) fielded three specialist spinners in their playing XI against Perth Scorchers; Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav. 16 out of 20 overs were bowled by the spinners. Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla and Yusuf Pathan bowled 4 overs each.
KKR’s spinners wreaked havoc for the scorchers, sharing all the seven wicket between themselves (Kuldeep Yadav 3 and Sunil Narine 4).
Australian batsmen are not known for their technique against spin bowling. Gautam Gambhir took a calculated risk of playing 3 specialist spinners, and it came off really well. In the 16 overs that KKR’s spinners bowled, they gave only 101 runs and took 7 wickets. Sunil Narine bowled brilliantly and took 4 wickets. Kuldeep Yadav, who’s turning out to be the find of the season for KKR, bowled extremely well and took 3 wickets. Perth Scorchers’ batsmen struggled to pick Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav’s variations, and this allowed Kolkata Knight Riders to restrict Perth Scorchers to 151.
This match was a real treat to watch for the lovers of spin bowling, as 4 different varieties of spin bowling were at display, in one innings.
• Suni Narine’s mystery spin
• Kuldeep Yadav’s left-arm chinaman
• Piyush Chawla’s leg-spin
• Yusuf Pathan’s off-breaks
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During the initial days of T20 cricket, very few would have thought that spinners will be one of the most important components this format. Now, we get to see spinners bowling in tandem, and many spinners bowl in the Powerplay and death overs. Sunil Narine is the best death bowlers in the world in T20 cricket, and his record in the death overs is better than anyone else.
KKR’s spin-heavy strategy was great to watch as it highlighted the value of spinners in T20 cricket. This match was a great advertisement for spinners in T20 cricket, as KKR’s spinners bowled 80% of the overs in Perth Scorchers’ innings.
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