3 spin bowlers India can bank on going into the 2022 Men's T20 World Cup
India has historically enjoyed quality spin bowlers across formats. With the advent of the IPL, they now have a variety of spinners - leg-spin, off-spin, slow left-arm and left-arm wrist spin - in their colossal talent pool.
India went to the T20 World Cup last year with Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Ashwin, Rahul Chahar and Ravindra Jadeja. However, they did not have a good campaign against the top teams in their group as they eventually crashed out of the tournament in the group stage.
Following the T20 World Cup, Yuzvendra Chahal was brought back into the national team setup. They have also given opportunities to Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi and Ravichandran Ashwin.
We take a look at three spin bowling options ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia.
#1 Axar Patel
Captain Temba Bavuma is caught in Axar Patel's first over
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Axar Patel is one of the best defensive spinners in the country. He was brought back into the national team squad last year against England when Ravindra Jadeja was injured. Following the T20 World Cup, he has once again been a feature in India's T20I squads against New Zealand and South Africa.
Against NZ, he picked up four wickets in three matches at an economy rate of 6 while against SA he took three wickets in four matches at an economy rate of 8.26.
Patel will compete with Jadeja for the No. 7 spot in India's ideal playing XI at the World Cup. However, the management may consider him a pure bowling option in helpful conditions like SCG and Adelaide, which may require a third spinner along with Chahal and Jadeja.
#2 Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja, along with Hardik Pandya, has been India's first-choice all-rounder in white-ball cricket in the past couple of years. In T20Is, he has picked up 48 wickets for India in 58 matches at an economy rate of 7.04.
Jadeja has also scored 326 runs in 29 innings at a strike rate of 124. His T20 record in Australia is impressive - six wickets in 17 overs at an economy rate of 7 along with 51 runs in two innings at a strike rate of 165.
Jadeja has featured in two matches against Sri Lanka since the commencement of the Men's T20 World Cup last year. He picked up two wickets in eight overs, conceding just about eight runs per over. Jadeja, though, did not have a good IPL campaign in 2022.
He will still be ahead of other spin bowling options in the pecking order because of his all-round abilities. Jadeja has been one of India's best pace hitters at the death overs in the 20-over format, post-pandemic.
#3 Yuzvendra Chahal
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Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was dropped from India's T20 World Cup squad last year. He has also not been retained by RCB despite being one of their best bowlers across the last seven seasons in the league. However, these setbacks did not stop Chahal from making a strong statement.
Chahal is once again the first-choice spinner for the national team in T20Is and is now the country's highest wicket-taker in T20Is. He was also the Purple Cap winner in his first season for the Rajasthan Royals. Chahal's rise over the past six to eight months has been great to watch for cricket fans.
Chahal has picked up four wickets in three matches in Australia albeit at an economy rate of 9.75. He was the Player of the Match against Australia in Canberra in 2020 when he was brought into the team as a concussion substitute for Jadeja.