IPL Season 2 is just 3 days old and so far it remained a spinner-dominated show. Starting with Shane Warne, Daniel Vettori, Anil Kumble and Pragyan Ojha - all the bowlers proved a point or two about the power of spin bowling at Twenty-20 cricket.
Spin can do magic and the spin magicians of international cricket have proved it times and again. But little did the cricket experts expected that spinners could make it so big in the shortest format of cricket. Five matches all total and everywhere it is the spinners that grabbed the limelight. While Shane Warne predictably remained captivating with his unique mixture of flight and deceptive revolutions of ball, Pragyan Ojha has been quite good at his job. The veteran Anil Kumble showed his worth by picking up five from his match, the left arm spinner Vettori did a good job for Delhi Daredevils.
However, each of them has their own spinning secret that the batsmen found hard to crack. Warne for instance, forces the batsman pick the ball from ‘above the eye level.’ And the player on the other side of crease finds it really difficult to play when the spin of the ball causes it to dip in the air, explains famous coach Vasu Paranjpe. However, the Australian has more weapons in his arsenal, points out the coach.
It is on the strength of an assortment of weapons that range from flipper to top spinners, that the aggressive bowler can confuse any batsman to the hilt before tearing off his concentration by cracking open all his batting techniques.
Warne’s dismissal of RCB’s Virat Kohli can be a classic example of Warne’s ability of stopping any batsman with his deceptive spins. Kohli, who has a rather stiff front shoulder, is famous for his weakness just outside the leg-stump. Warne took no time in picking up his opponent’s weakness and delivered a flight on the leg-stump. As the confused Kohli stepped down for the leg-side whip and missed, the ball took a quick swerve and hit the middle stump. “If the batsman makes a brief preparatory movement as the bowler is about to deliver, his elbow goes back, so does the shoulder. The batsman is better placed to stroke freely on the leg-side. But if his left shoulder is stiff and locked, he could have a blind spot on the leg-side,” said Paranjpe. Warne’s tricks with the ball only showed that he has only sharpened as a spinner with age. And that is why he ranks high among the all time spinning greats.
Another veteran who showed that age doe not affect skills was Anil Kumble. With faint hints of variations in length and trajectory, interspersed with occasional bounces Kumble was the one to dominate the crease at Newlands. While Vettori’s natural ability at getting the ball to straighten at the right hander batsman from a touch wide of the crease clicked perfectly with the Twenty-20’s pace. Ojha on the other hand, used the drift to the perfection to leave the batsmen waiting in confusion.
In short, it was the spinners who stole the show over the past matches. Shorter boundaries and powerful willows failed to work in favor of the batsmen. The success of the spinners might force the other teams into considering greater role for the spinners in their teams in the upcoming matches.
Spin can do magic and the spin magicians of international cricket have proved it times and again. But little did the cricket experts expected that spinners could make it so big in the shortest format of cricket. Five matches all total and everywhere it is the spinners that grabbed the limelight. While Shane Warne predictably remained captivating with his unique mixture of flight and deceptive revolutions of ball, Pragyan Ojha has been quite good at his job. The veteran Anil Kumble showed his worth by picking up five from his match, the left arm spinner Vettori did a good job for Delhi Daredevils.
However, each of them has their own spinning secret that the batsmen found hard to crack. Warne for instance, forces the batsman pick the ball from ‘above the eye level.’ And the player on the other side of crease finds it really difficult to play when the spin of the ball causes it to dip in the air, explains famous coach Vasu Paranjpe. However, the Australian has more weapons in his arsenal, points out the coach.
It is on the strength of an assortment of weapons that range from flipper to top spinners, that the aggressive bowler can confuse any batsman to the hilt before tearing off his concentration by cracking open all his batting techniques.
Warne’s dismissal of RCB’s Virat Kohli can be a classic example of Warne’s ability of stopping any batsman with his deceptive spins. Kohli, who has a rather stiff front shoulder, is famous for his weakness just outside the leg-stump. Warne took no time in picking up his opponent’s weakness and delivered a flight on the leg-stump. As the confused Kohli stepped down for the leg-side whip and missed, the ball took a quick swerve and hit the middle stump. “If the batsman makes a brief preparatory movement as the bowler is about to deliver, his elbow goes back, so does the shoulder. The batsman is better placed to stroke freely on the leg-side. But if his left shoulder is stiff and locked, he could have a blind spot on the leg-side,” said Paranjpe. Warne’s tricks with the ball only showed that he has only sharpened as a spinner with age. And that is why he ranks high among the all time spinning greats.
Another veteran who showed that age doe not affect skills was Anil Kumble. With faint hints of variations in length and trajectory, interspersed with occasional bounces Kumble was the one to dominate the crease at Newlands. While Vettori’s natural ability at getting the ball to straighten at the right hander batsman from a touch wide of the crease clicked perfectly with the Twenty-20’s pace. Ojha on the other hand, used the drift to the perfection to leave the batsmen waiting in confusion.
In short, it was the spinners who stole the show over the past matches. Shorter boundaries and powerful willows failed to work in favor of the batsmen. The success of the spinners might force the other teams into considering greater role for the spinners in their teams in the upcoming matches.
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