IPL 2017 - Leg-spinners' performance analysis

The prevalence of leg-spinners in T20 cricket brings an added dimension of complexity for batsmen.

View : 485

6 Min Read

Imran Tahir
info
Imran Tahir. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The knock-out stage of IPL season 10 is here, with the top four teams about to battle it out for a spot in the all-important final in Hyderabad. As the league phase of the grandiose tournament comes to a wrap-up, it’s time to look at 56 exciting games in the rear-view mirror. Batsmen stepped up to the occasion to amass the runs, and pacers rattled many a set of stumps. However, the flavour of the season was perhaps the leg-spinners.

An art which crept into the shortest format of the game as a luxury has almost turned into a necessity in modern times. The prevalence of leg-spinners in T20 cricket brings an added dimension of complexity for batsmen, who must deal with a whole host of new deliveries on a regular basis. As the IPL has shown this season, several captains have used their leg-spinners as their trump cards. The leggies, in turn, have rewarded their captains with economical spells and prized wickets, thus bolstering their spot in the team.

CricTracker takes a look at five of the most compelling leg-spinners, who foxed some of the best batsmen that throng this star-studded edition of the IPL.

5. Samuel Badree – Royal Challengers Bangalore

Indeed it was a forgettable and mediocre season for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, there were certain bright spots during their 2017 campaign, and Samuel Badree was one of them. The West Indies leggie remains till date one of the most under-rated bowlers in the circuit. After all, this man was a huge contributor in West Indies’ triumph in the 2016 World T20, with 9 wickets and conceding runs at a miserly economy rate of 5.39.

Although he started late this season, he announced himself in style, picking up a splendid hat-trick albeit in a losing cause. He skittled out a hefty Mumbai Indians top order and finished with magical figures of 4/9 in his 4 overs. Despite being listed as a leg-spinner, Badree is not the biggest turner of the ball. His strength though lies in his impeccable accuracy, so much so that RCB opened the bowling with him on 5 occasions this season. Badree was used by RCB in 7 games, during which he picked up 9 wickets at an impressive strike rate of 16.66.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore having finished with the wooden spoon, it’s hard to see how a bowler of Badree’s calibre might have had an impact on the team. However, he operated with precision mixed with deception. His googlies left Parthiv Patel and Rohit Sharma bamboozled in that stunning hat-trick against MI.

4. Amit Mishra – Delhi Daredevils

Amit Mishra and Sanju Samson
Amit Mishra and Sanju Samson. (Photo Source: BCCI)

Amit Mishra is again one amongst many under-rated bowlers in T20 cricket. He backs himself to flight the ball, thus drawing batsmen out of the crease. Often, he ends up ripping one through their defences in the process.

Plying his skills for the Delhi Daredevils, Amit Mishra has been very impressive with the turn he’s got. The small man, in spite of having an economy rate touching 9, bagged 10 crucial wickets in this IPL. He surprised batsmen with the odd googly. Mishra exhibited his class with a spectacular spell to back the Daredevils batsmen, who had amassed a score in excess of 200.

Coming in to bowl late in the chase, Amit Mishra erased Rising Pune Supergiant’s chances of winning once and for all. The ball did the talking, as figures of 3/11 shone bright against his name. It was the flighted deliveries which did the trick for Mishra throughout this season, which unfortunately was yet another disappointing one for the Delhi Daredevils.

3. Yuzvendra Chahal – Royal Challengers Bangalore

Yuzvendra Chahal
Yuzvendra Chahal. (Photo Source: BCCI)

While precision is Badree’s forte, and Mishra’s, flight, it’s skiddiness which is the X factor in young Yuzvendra Chahal’s bowling. He might not have been the most accurate of bowlers, but he is quite surely a cunning customer. The 26-year-old didn’t experiment with too many variations this season. Instead, he preferred to hit the same line and length on a consistent basis, thus containing the batsmen.

Throughout this edition of the IPL, Chahal maintained an economy rate of 7.65. His best figures this season came against the batting powerhouse KKR, who were restricted to a mere 131 on a decent Chinnaswamy track. Chahal bagged 3 vital wickets, giving away just 16 runs. Don’t forget his 1/19 against the Delhi Daredevils in a thriller of a game.

Many might look at the Royal Challengers Bangalore as a failed side, but upon scrutiny, it’s their batting which let them down this year. The bowling department made few errors, and Chahal finishing with 14 wickets proved the bowlers’ innocence in a dreadful season.

2. Rashid Khan – Sunrisers Hyderabad

Rashid Khan of Sunrisers Hyderabad
Rashid Khan of Sunrisers Hyderabad. (Photo: IANS)

Not many would have thought that the war-torn nation of Afghanistan would play cricket, let alone their players featuring in the IPL. But Rashid Khan has been their man with a mission to uplift Afghan cricket to new heights. This leggie was a sensation long before the owners began to bid for players during the 2017 IPL auctions, and rightly so.

Picking Rashid seemed a near-impossible task. His fast arm action, coupled with tremendous accuracy on the pitch made him a perfect weapon in the middle stages of the game. If Warner wanted a wicket, he called upon Rashid and he delivered one in his very first over. In his maiden appearance in the IPL, Rashid took the tournament by storm. A total of 17 scalps in as many as 13 matches is the testimony to his capacity to fox batsmen, with best figures of 3/19.

Googlies have been his go to delivery, some of those being fired in at 90kmph. What makes him an even more effective bowler is the frequency of his googlies among regular leg-breaks. Rashid’s bowling is very hard to get away. On several occasions, Rashid has finished his spells having given away less than 20 runs. Most batsmen have looked uncomfortable against him, and his economy rate of 6.67 speaks for itself.

1. Imran Tahir – Rising Pune Supergiant

Imran Tahir of Rising Pune Supergiant
Imran Tahir of Rising Pune Supergiant celebrates fall of a wicket. (Photo: IANS)

South Africa’s Imran Tahir would have planned to watch this edition of the IPL from his sofa back home, but a last-minute entry into the Rising Pune Supergiant setup was indeed a streak of luck. Tahir repaid the faith of the RPS management by catapulting himself to the top of the charts.

He had a clearly chalked out plan to trap his prey. He sets up the batsmen wonderfully by keeping him guessing. Since Tahir has the variations at his disposal that makes it much harder for the batsmen to anticipate what he’s going to throw next. Along with regular leg-breaks and the occasional googlies, Tahir also brings in the slider. He makes clever use of the crease, delivering some from wide of the stumps. Tahir’s constant variation in the angle of release compensates for the fact that he isn’t the biggest turner of the ball.

On many an occasion, he celebrated a wicket this season, with the same verve and passion as his first international wicket. He ran towards the crowd, threw his arms and thumped his chest, and why not. Tahir’s 12 games saw him pick up 18 wickets, bettered only by teammate Jaydev Unadkat and SRH’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He’s maintained an economy under 8 an over, but it’s the strike rate of 15.66 that stands out. Coming on the back of a disappointing auction, Tahir has been a treat to watch this season.

Get every cricket updates! Follow Us:

googletelegraminstagramwhatsappyoutubethreadstwitter

Download Our App

For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS and Google Play Store