Top spinners in modern day cricket

After the retirement of the trio of Muttiah Muralitharan, Anil Kumble and Shane Warne, there was a brief period when spin bowling seemed to be on the decline. The advent of the shortest format of the game did very little to help their cause as the format was ostensibly a threat to the existence of spinners. The art of a spin bowler, involving elements like flight and variation of pace, was little cared for in a format where the price of a wicket was trivial. The batsman is always prepared to take on a spinner as he feels he can hit him out of the park.

However, the game has a unique way of reproducing itself and the talent within it. Spinners are now a major constituent of the shorter form of the game even though the set of skills that they possess has undergone a major change. They rely on the wrong one to be a wicket-taking delivery, and bowl much flatter in order to contain the flow of runs.

The game has also given birth to an entity called the ‘mystery spinner’, who boasts of six different variations for the six deliveries he has to bowl in an over. The longer format of the game continues to be the platform where their orthodox set of skills are tested. The mystery spinner is yet to prove himself in this arena.

Here is a list of the top spin bowlers playing the game currently in all formats of the game:

4. Sunil Narine

The West Indian has plied his trade in the shorter formats of the game and very successfully. He has a fledgling Test career but the figures are promising as he has scalped 15 wickets in the five matches he has played, but he still has to prove himself in that arena against quality oppositions. He is one of the new breed of the ‘mystery spinners’ and yet he’s not much of a mystery in one sense. He does not have numerous types of deliveries but he bowls the orthodox deliveries with a twist.

He bowls his off spinner with a scrambled seam, which means that his wrong one is not easy to pick. Unlike most off-spinners who bowl the doosra from the back of the hand, giving the batsman a chance to spot the delivery from the manner of its release, he bowls it from the front of his hand.

It is not the number of his variations that is a problem but the quality with which he executes them. He shows great control and accuracy which make him really difficult to get away. His economy in ODI cricket is 4.00 whereas it’s below 6.00 for T-20′s which is a rare feat.