Wrist spinners are magical, but finger spinners can be effective too, says Washington Sundar

03/20/2018

Washington Sundar has stated that while wrist spinners could be magical on any turf, finger spinners could just be as effective, following his Nidahas Trophy heroics. The 18-year-old off-spinner also revealed how he manages to understand batsmen’s mindset and use pace variations accordingly.

After the wrist spinning duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav took the cricketing world by storm in South Africa by completely bamboozling the Proteas batsmen in their own backyard, hardly had anyone expected a young finger-spinner to clinch the Man of the Series award in the very next series - the Nidahas Trophy.

The tournament, which was largely a second priority for BCCI with IPL coming up next month, saw India sending a B side with players having very little experience on the international level to compete against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. However, the side not only managed to pull off an unlikely victory in the final but has also evidently got their next spinning star in the Tamil Nadu youngster.

Taking wickets almost at will with the new ball, Sundar ended up as the leading wicket-taker in the tri-nation series with eight wickets, with an impressive economy rate of 5.70 in five matches. At a time when the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have totally been shunned out of the limited-overs format by the wrist spinning duo, Sundar could see a glimmer of hope to youngsters in his trade.

“Wrist spinners are magical. However, I feel finger spinners can be as effective as left-arm and wrist spinners. Most teams prefer left-armers or legspinner, especially in the shorter versions. But I feel even offspinners can be as effective as the other two provided they are proactive,” said Sundar in an interview with TOI.

“If you can double-guess the batsman and be one up on the mindset every ball, then you can be good. Sometimes, an offspinners’ classical delivery with a bit of loop and turn might not suit this format. Offspinners certainly need to do a lot of homework before every game,” he added.

After having a forgettable ODI debut against Sri Lanka in December last year where he took just one wicket conceding 60 runs, Sundar was determined to make a difference this time but he admitted that this performance surprised him too.

“I had the belief that I would get another opportunity (after the Lanka T20Is at home). I was mentally prepared for everything. But I never expected to end up with the Man-of-the-Series award. I started off well in the first two games and I just wanted to carry forward the momentum,” said Sundar.

At 18, Sundar has exhibited way more maturity than his age, already showing signs of Ashwin’s calmness under extreme pressure. He also went on to reveal how keenly he has been studying the batsmen.

“In Powerplays, you don’t have the option to bowl outside. You can vary the length but can’t tinker with line except for the bluff delivery may be. It’s more about pace variations. You can pick things from a batsman’s stance or from where his bat comes.

“It’s about guessing the batsman’s mindset and being adaptable till the end. For example, Mushfiqur Rahim’s bat comes close to the body, while Kusal’s (Perera) comes from second slip which means his zone will be mid-wicket or long on. If you guess those, you have a chance to go one up,” he said.

Wrist spinners are magical, but finger spinners can be effective too, says Washington Sundar

Comments

0 Comments