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Fielding skills will be paramount
The opening day of the Twenty20 World Cup showed the virtues of spinners. Murali, Vettori, Nathan McCullum and even Jayasuriya choked the batsmen to death. The profligacy of Shane Bond suggested the problems quickies could have on the sluggish Caribbean pitches, Ravi Shastri comments.
The opening day of the Twenty20 World Cup showed the virtues of spinners. Murali, Vettori, Nathan McCullum and even Jayasuriya choked the batsmen to death. The profligacy of Shane Bond suggested the problems quickies could have on the sluggish Caribbean pitches.
So you could have spinners operating at all times in the innings. They could be at the start of the innings or at the death. Middle overs alone are not their playground. In any case, one spinner alone wouldn’t do for successful teams in this Twenty20 World Cup.
To be successful, a spinner essentially needs to be accurate. He also needs to have variety. He ought to be able to second-guess the batsmen. Above all, he needs to have a huge heart to experiment with his variations. Quite a few spinners are getting batsmen out with occasional darts wide outside the off-leg stump, as batsmen, time and again, give a charge.
There is no set theory to counter this threat.
Somebody like Mahela Jayawardene could work the ball around in the gaps. Big hitters can take the occasional aerial route on the strength of their shoulders. Above all, a batting side needs to put a cap on their scoring ambitions. While a 180 might not be defendable on good pitches, a 150 might as well work in the Caribbean.
The skill in fielding would thus become paramount. Sri Lanka could have squeezed home in the opener had they not missed those infuriating run-out chances. When the margins of victory aren’t likely to be big, little mistakes can tip the balance.
It suggests Indians wouldn’t have an easy time in the competition. They might be excellent with the ball and bat, but questions abound on their ability in the field. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is brilliant but a few seniors could be tested.
