Spinners - ready to rule the roost in IPL

In a format that sounded the death knell for spinners, isn't it ironic that it is in fact the spinners who have held their own, so much so that they hold the trump card for most teams in the cash rich Indian Premier League (IPL).

With boundaries getting shorter, bats bigger and pitches flatter, spinners have had to constantly reinvent themselves more than their other illustrious counterpart. Fast bowlers can bowl faster deliveries or radically reduce speed and thus create deception. Spinners on the other hand have had to keep trying new things all the time in order to be counted. From the 'Doosra' to the 'Carrom ball' to going around the wicket to make sure the batsman has less room available to free his arms, it is the spinners who have continued to evolve and be effective and mystifying while fighting a battle for survival.

From Kolkata's Sunil Narine to Hyderabad's Amit Mishra to Punjab's Piyush Chawla et al, spinners have influenced the outcome of topsy-turvy Twenty20 matches that have invariably gone into the last over without an assured victor.

A glance at the overall economy rates for spinners vis-a-vis the faster men in each season indicates how well they have adapted to the requirements of this format.

Pace and spin in each IPL season so far
Season		Spin-balls		Wickets		Average		Econ. rate		Pace-balls		Wickets		Average		Econ. rate
2008		2981		134		30.38		8.19		9886		467		28.42		8.05
2009		4963		226		24.77		6.76		7978		388		26.25		7.65
2010		4943		210		28.80		7.34		8656		405		29.64		8.32
2011		6235		268		27.60		7.11		10166		470		28.12		7.80
2012		6118		241		31.35		7.41		11090		531		27.19		7.81

 

Barring the inaugural season of the IPL, the spinners have consistently had a much lower economy rate than the pacers in all of the other editions.

From being cannon fodder as previously thought, they are bowling in the Power Plays, which shows the extent to which a spinners' role has progressed. While in the first IPL, spinners bowled all of 30 overs during the Powerplays over the entire tournament, it is pertinent to note that in the 2012 edition, spinners bowled 211 overs during the same period, a seven-fold increase over 2008.

At the same time, of the 11 Hat-Tricks that have taken place in the IPL so far, 8 have been taken by the spinners (a record 3 times by Amit Mishra, brace by Yuvraj Singh, 1 each by Sunil Narine, Ajit Chandila and Rohit Sharma) while only 3 have been taken by the seamers.

It is clear that the notion of spinners being easy meat and finished article in T-20 has in fact been emphatically put to rest. What is unclear though is the impact twenty20 cricket is having on potential young spinners throughout the cricketing world. Well that is a different story altogether. For the time being, it is time to rejoice in the role and importance that spinners have been accorded in the IPL.