IPL 2018: 5 spinners who could bowl in powerplay
A spinner bowling in the powerplay overs of a limited overs game was an extremely unusual thing a decade ago but with the advent of T20 cricket, captains have often employed this tactic. It appears a risky option with the fielders up but the batsmen are tempted to clear the field and in the process end up throwing their wickets away.
Spinners these days train to bowl with the hard, new ball and many have mastered this art of powerplay spin bowling. Over the past 10 years, the IPL has seen an increased use of spinners in the powerplay. This year's IPL will be no different and the openers will have to find a way to cope with this trend.
Let us take a look at 5 spinners who would bowl in the powerplays.
#1 Akila Dananjaya - Mumbai Indians
Other spinners available in the squad - Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, JP Duminy
Possible choice - Akila Dananjaya
Sri Lanka has produced a number of unconventional spinners who can bowl six different balls in an over and Akila Danajaya is one of them. The batting maestro Mahela Jayawardene was extremely pleased with Akila's bowling skills and fast-tracked his entry into the national side.
Without having played a single first-class game, Akila was selected in the 2013 T20 World Cup squad. He can bowl the leg-break, conventional off-spin, doosra, googly and a carrom ball as well. In the recently-concluded Nidahas Trophy, he troubled the Bangladeshi and Indian openers bowling with the new ball. Akila enjoys bowling with the new ball and Rohit Sharma would be willing to experiment with him as well.
His T20I career stats are -
