JOIN USTwenty20 cricket is heavily loaded in the favour of batsmen but Mushtaq Ahmed reckons that the spinners of late have been able to influence the outcome of the matches in the shortest format.
Ahmed, one of the best leg-spinners the game has seen, said the best thing about spinners is that they have a lot of variety to attack the batsmen.
“A lot of teams are winning the matches because of spinners. I believe spinners have more variations like they have carom ball, doosra, googly and flipper. Spinners are playing a huge role in Twenty20 cricket. The spinners can take wickets in the middle at the crucial time. I think the spinners are playing a huge role,” Mushtaq, who is Delhi Daredevils’ bowling consultant, told reporters ahead of their match against Rajasthan Royals.
Two spinners — Amit Mishra and Sunil Narine — feature in the top five bowlers this season thus far.
Mushtaq advised that to become a successful spinner, one need not worry about containing the batsman but spin the ball as hard as possible.
“Spin the ball as hard as you can. Not to worry about containing any batsman. Be smart with your field position and you will see the results,” he said.
Mushtaq, former Pakistan leg-spinner and England’s bowling coach, said a number of spinners has impressed him in the sixth edition of the IPL. “There are plenty of them. Shahbaz Nadeem, Jeevan Mendis, Johan Botha from our team. Then from opposition, you have Amit Mishra, Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha,” he said.