All posts tagged: Spinners

‘Runs below par; spinners made quite a few errors’: Axar Patel after DC’s loss to KKR | Cricket News

‘Runs below par; spinners made quite a few errors’: Axar Patel after DC’s loss to KKR | Cricket News

3 min readUpdated: May 8, 2026 11:26 PM IST Delhi Capitals skipper Axar Patel said that both the batters and the spinners made errors during the Kolkata Knight Riders match, which ultimately cost the hosts dearly at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday. DC batters were choked out by the KKR bowlers, especially the spinners but the Delhi tweakers couldn’t get the same purchase from the pitch when they came in to bowl. “I think the runs were definitely below par and at the same time the spinners made quite a few mistakes. Looking at the way the pitch behaved, I feel the spinners did make errors. But at the same time, if you notice, we lost five wickets in two-three overs, and I think that’s where the momentum slipped away from us. That’s probably something we need to think about because the same thing happened against CSK, we started well, and then suddenly wickets kept falling,” Axar said after the post-match chat. “You can’t solve it in a complicated way. While Ashutosh and I …

‘I feel it’s at a standstill…’ IPL record wicket-taker on role of spinners in IPL

‘I feel it’s at a standstill…’ IPL record wicket-taker on role of spinners in IPL

4 min readMay 2, 2026 01:39 PM IST In the first half of this year’s IPL, spinners have bowled a total of 419.1 overs as compared to 553.4 overs bowled at the same stage in IPL 2025 edition. With spinners at the halfway stage of IPL having an average of 31.01 as compared to 29.15 last IPL and an economy of 9.11 as compared to 8.68 last season, this IPL has seen the impact of spinners in the league being not that impressive. 2007 T20 World Cup winner and two-time PL winner Piyush Chawla has weighed his views on the role of spinners in IPL this season and believes that the spinners are at a standstill in IPL. “I feel it’s at a standstill. And there is not much of an improvement from the spinner’s point of view. The spinners who have just come in there and bowled those good lengths and just didn’t try to do too many extra things, they have been doing well,” Chawla, who is the fourth highest wicket-taker with his …

SRH’s Daniel Vettori says he wanted 10 spinners in IPL auction, got five | Cricket News

SRH’s Daniel Vettori says he wanted 10 spinners in IPL auction, got five | Cricket News

4 min readHyderabadApr 17, 2026 08:53 PM IST One of the biggest question marks Sunrisers Hyderabad has had coming into the season, apart from Pat Cummins’ fitness, was the lack of a world-class spinner in their arsenal. “Well, I wanted 10 spinners, and I got 5, so I was close,” said head coach Daniel Vettori on Friday when asked about the auction strategy for the tweakers. SRH had Harsh Dubey, who was brought last year and was creating waves across the country with his domestic performances, but the spin attack still lacked a big-name X-factor. The franchise took a chance on Zeeshan Ansari last season, which yielded moderate results, with him picking up six wickets from 10 games. The woes resurfaced on the opening night against Royal Challengers Bengaluru when the bowling attack comprised of Harsh and medium pacers who could bowl slower-ball cutters; lacking the X-factor mystery spinner through the middle overs, which has become a necessity in modern T20 format. Sans X-factor spinner or even a reliable wirst-spinner, skipper Ishan Kishan was scratching …

The strangers at the gate: West Indies have three spinners India barely know

The strangers at the gate: West Indies have three spinners India barely know

5 min readKolkataFeb 28, 2026 08:14 PM IST At the edge of the nets, Gudakesh Motie waited impatiently for a new box of balls. When he got one, he carefully inspected each one of them and ran his hands over them. He finally settled on the newest ball and bowled a couple of overs. Eight balls of finger spin; four of wrist spin. Among all the spinners India’s batsmen had duelled this series, he would be the strangest, a left-armer who could alternate between wrist and finger spin depending on the batsman’s orientation. It’s no gimmick, no wanton experiment-spree. West Indies’s highest wicket-taker this series (10 at 15.50) has a considerable degree of masterfulness in both. Naturally a finger spinner, he developed the wrist spin mutants to trouble left-handers. He has the one that slides in as well as the wrong’un. His finger spin to left-handers are not gilt-edged freebies either. He can give the ball a rip, toss it up from a height. Growing up, he was too short for his age and parents …

‘If Pakistan are serious about this World Cup campaign…’: Who does R Ashwin want PAK to play in middle order against England spinners in Super 8 match? | Cricket News

‘If Pakistan are serious about this World Cup campaign…’: Who does R Ashwin want PAK to play in middle order against England spinners in Super 8 match? | Cricket News

3 min readUpdated: Feb 24, 2026 05:32 PM IST Ravichandran Ashwin on Tuesday said that Pakistan should give Fakhar Zaman a chance in the middle order in order to take on England spinners Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson when the two sides meet in a crucial Super 8 match of the T20 World Cup in Pallekele. “If Pakistan are serious about this World Cup campaign, they need to think about giving Fakhar Zaman a go in the middle order. He can sweep and use his feet against Rashid and Dawson to inflict some serious damage through the middle overs. This was Nepals success formulae against Rashid and there are some key learning’s that the other teams can try to imbibe. Access the square boundaries to earn balls in the step hit zone,” Ashwin said. Zaman, who has a reputation of being a big hitter, is yet to play for Pakistan in this edition of the T20 World Cup. If Pakistan are serious about this World Cup campaign, they need to think about giving Fakhar Zaman …

Pakistan’s spinners face their worst nightmare: Hardik Pandya

Pakistan’s spinners face their worst nightmare: Hardik Pandya

5 min readUpdated: Feb 14, 2026 08:06 PM IST Mystery spinners have an address they fear to tread: those power hitters with forensic eyes who dismiss the puzzle at inception. Pakistan’s spin quartet will run into Hardik Pandya, not merely a destroyer of spinners of all sorts, but one who exudes a preternatural rage against them as if it’s the defining purpose of his middle-over ballast. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW VIDEO Hardik is such a multidimensional cricketer that the variegated layers of his craft often go under-appreciated. His proficiency against spinners is one such layer. In the last two years, he has averaged 48 against them (pre-2024, it was 105.7), wielded a strike rate of 163.3, and been dismissed just thrice in 86 balls faced. He wasn’t always this destructive, but at the turn of the decade he added more strings to his bow, sharpened his natural strokes, and shed the inhibitions triggered by injuries and loss of form. “There was a time when I didn’t know what was next for Hardik. So I had to …

Is Pakistan spinner’s bent-arm, zig-zag action with long pause legal? | Cricket News

Is Pakistan spinner’s bent-arm, zig-zag action with long pause legal? | Cricket News

The round-arm flings of Usman Tariq would tax batsmen’s eye, just as it would overwork the doubters’ fingers, furiously alternating between rewind and pause buttons. Australia all-rounder Cameron Green was left unamused when the Pakistan off-spinner ejected him in a recent T20I; he angrily mimicked the action, as if suggesting that Usman had exceeded the 15-degree bent-elbow limit permissible to bowlers. But after watching the replays, he promptly apologised to the bowler. Green, though, would not be the last batsman to trudge back wondering about the legality of Usman’s action. The action has confounded umpires. Twice he was reported during the Pakistan Super League (PSL), but cleared both times. He is tired explaining the genesis of his unusual action. “I have two elbows in my arm. My arm bends naturally. I have got this tested and cleared. Everyone feels I bend my arms and all that. My bent arm is a biological issue,” Usman explained to MYK channel. In medical lexicon, he has double-jointed elbows, which means he cannot fully straighten his arms. The great …

Spinners lead Sri Lanka to victory over England in ODI series opener

Spinners lead Sri Lanka to victory over England in ODI series opener

Sri Lanka spinners thrived in favorable conditions at home to beat England by 19 runs Thursday in the opening game of three-match ODI series. With star spinner Wanindu Hasaranga rested, legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay (2-39) and leftarm spinner Dunith Wellalage (2-41) picked up key wickets on a conducive slow pitch to bowl out England for 252. Earlier, No. 3 batter Kusal Mendis anchored Sri Lanka to 271-6 with an unbeaten 93 off 117 balls that included 11 boundaries. England overcame the early loss of Zak Crawley, who made a disappointing return to 50-over format after more than two years when he nicked Asitha Fernando behind wickets after scoring just 6 runs in his comeback game. Ben Duckett (62) and Joe Root (61) managed a 117-run stand, but Sri Lanka didn’t allow the pair to score freely with spinners finding plenty of grip on a slow wicket. Vandersay broke the century stand when Duckett got tangled while going for a reverse sweep and was adjudged leg before wicket. With the wicket assisting slow bowlers, Sri Lanka deployed …

‘Spinners are going to need to learn how to bowl on surfaces that don’t encourage spin in Australia’ – Jason Gillespie | Cricket News

‘Spinners are going to need to learn how to bowl on surfaces that don’t encourage spin in Australia’ – Jason Gillespie | Cricket News

The pine after spin bowling after Australia ghosted the bowling art during the Ashes, has turned into a clamour. After MCG Test became the first time in Australia when not a single over of spin was bowled, Australia didn’t select a specialist spinner in three of the five Tests, including at Sydney, where SCG has seen a spinner all the 138 preceding years. Former international pacer and ABC Sport expert Jason Gillespie said while spinners still had a key role to play at Test level, they would simply need to bowl on surfaces that didn’t aid them. “A spinner always plays a role, even if the surface doesn’t necessarily dictate it,” Gillespie told ABC cricket. “Spinners are going to learn how to bowl on different surfaces, surfaces that may not encourage spin. I can kind of understand why the teams both chose not to play spin at times in this series — they probably felt that the Test matches weren’t going to go for five days. But it’s a Test match and our young spinners …

Todd Murphy is hopeful for spinners having a big role in Sydney Ashes Test

Todd Murphy is hopeful for spinners having a big role in Sydney Ashes Test

Australian off-spinner Todd Murphy is hopeful of spinners having a role in the fifth and final Test of the Ashes 2025-26 series at Sydney Cricket Ground. Spin hasn’t played much of a role in the ongoing series, with pacers dominating the proceedings right from the Perth Test. The SCG has historically favoured spinners. While England have sidelined their frontline spinner, Shoaib Bashir, in the four Tests so far, Nathan Lyon too has had only a limited role to play for Australia. However, with Lyon out due to injury and the Sydney Cricket Ground being a favoured venue for spinners, Murphy has reasons to believe that he might have a big role to play in his debut home Test. “I don’t think going into the series there was ever that planning or idea that spin wouldn’t play a role. I think it’s sort of just been how it’s eventuated. I think it’ll evolve from year to year. Next year it could be completely different,” said Murphy. ALSO READ | Stuart Broad heaps praise on Josh Tongue: …