IPL 2017: Top 5 leg-spinners resurrecting the magical art
This IPL has been special for more than a few reasons. The quality of cricket has been excellent. For an Indian fan, there has been much to cheer with plenty of Indian performers rising up to the occasion unfazed by all the foreign stars.
However, one thing clearly stands out this season – the quality of leg-spin bowling. At one point, three of the top five wicket-takers were leg-spinners. While that was a tough stat to maintain, leg-spin by and large has been resurrected.
It isn’t a dying art for sure, seeing as we are, how they have figured a way to deceive the big bats and muscular batsmen. We take a look at the top five leg-spinners on show.
#1 Imran Tahir (Rising Pune Supergiant)
One of the biggest surprises of the auction – why wouldn’t you pick Imran Tahir, one of the best T20 bowlers going around the world; not to mention the fact that he has played for more than a couple of dozen T20 teams. But destiny’s child found a way in, thanks to Ravichandran Ashwin’s injury and he has made the most of it.
Tahir is second on the wicket-takers’ list, four behind Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Tahir’s 16 wickets have come in 10 innings and 39 overs with a best of 3/18. What is impressive is how the wicket-taking bowler is rummaging for breakthroughs and that shows in the fact that he averages a measly 19.31, although his economy of 7.92 is a tad higher than usual.
Playing quite a few matches on the Pune wicket can do that to your economy though and Tahir has been responsible for keeping Pune in the hunt so far, seeing as they are in the fourth position on the table.
Tahir’s contributions were particularly evident against Gujarat Lions when he turned the tide with three quick wickets (3/27) that ensured GL didn’t end up with a huge score. Tahir’s 3/18 against RCB was impressive too.