3 pacers, 3 spinners & 1 all-rounder: Brad Hogg picks best powerplay bowlers in IPL history

With no international or domestic cricket going on due to Covid-19 crisis, former and current cricket stars are keeping themselves busy by engaging with fans on social media.

Former Australia cricketer Brad Hogg assembled a list of bowlers who according to him are the best in business when it comes to bowling in the powerplay overs in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In normal circumstances, the 13th edition of the cash-rich league would currently be on but due to the coronavirus pandemic the start of the tournament was pushed back to April 15 from March 29.

File image of Brad Hogg (Vipin Kumar/Hindustan Times)

With no international or domestic cricket going on due to Covid-19 crisis, former and current cricket stars are keeping themselves busy by engaging with fans on social media.

Hogg uploaded a video on his social media handle and listed seven players, who he felt are the best when it comes to bowling in the first six overs in the IPL.

Hogg’s post read: “Righty-o legends, bringing you the first episode of best of IPL series for bowlers now. We are looking for the best in IPL history - in the powerplay phase of course.

Zaheer Khan: “He swung the ball in the air and also had variety with some seam movement as well. He bowled a lot of cutters and that made it difficult for opening batsmen against him in those first six overs.”

Munaf Patel: “A little bit of surprise here. He was tall and he used to bowl a lot faster than many batsmen thought. He used to hit a good line and length on top of off and had a little seam movement as well which made it difficult to hit.”

Morne Morkel: “He is tall and he had that bounce which made is difficult for batsmen to hit. He was a tough customer in the powerplay phase.”

Sunil Narine: He has got great variety and can turn the ball both ways. He can beat the inside edge and the outside edge and also has a potent straighter one.”

R Ashwin: “He has got that extra height which gives him extra bounce. He turns the ball into the right-hander but also has a good straighter on.”

Harbhajan Singh: “He bowls a lot more straighter ones which skids on to the batsmen. He then slows it up with a bit of a variety which creates doubts in the batsman’s mind.”

Shane Watson: “One all-rounder that has done exceeding well with the ball in IPL is Shane Watson. Not tall as the quicks I named earlier but he is a big, burly man and when he was on song, he bowled with a lot of pace. He has that little bit of swing as well.”