World Cup 2019: Wristy business for India

India's Kuldeep Yadav during the warm-up match against Bangladesh at Cardiff on Tuesday. (Right) Yuzvendra Chahal celebrates the wicket of B'desh's Mohammad Mithun on Tuesday. Pic/AFP

England off-spinner Moeen Ali feels that India's top-class wrist spinners will give them an advantage in this World Cup if the weather remains dry. "The wrist spinners have a big advantage over finger spinners as they have a lot of variety. They can bowl the googly, the top-spinner or the flipper, changing the angle of deliveries. In that contest, to have two wrist spinners, and that too one a right-hander and the other a chinaman, is surely a big advantage India have going into the World Cup," Moeen said.

"We can see that most teams have at least one wrist spinner and he will be the key player for that team. South African captain Faf du Plessis surprised the world by opening the bowing with Tahir Imran and he struck immediately. They also have Tabraiz Shamsi, who could bowl in tandem with Imran in some games.

"We [England] rely on Adil Rashid for providing breakthroughs. India have their set of wrist spinners who will be key in the middle overs. And even Afghanistan have a couple of them. Rashid Khan is among the top spin bowlers and then they have Mujeeb-ur-Rehman to back him," he said. "Top- contenders Australia will be thinking of playing Adam Zampa at some stage of the tournament ahead of off-spinner Nathan Lyon or even alongside him, depending on the conditions and the opponents.

Moeen Ali

"India would definitely be tempted to play both the wrist spinners [Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav], but a lot will depend on the conditions and the type of pitches they will get. And of course, they will also have to think of the balance of the team. But I think as the tournament wears on and it gets warmer and the pitches get drier, the spinners will become vital," the England off-spinner said.

"It's not that the finger spinners will be totally sidelined. If there is a bit of turn in the pitch, then they could even get wickets, instead of playing the role of containment. Left-arm spinners like Ravindra Jadeja, Shakib Al Hasan, Mitchell Santner, Hasan Ali etc will surely have their day in the sun."

As for Moeen himself, he has a lot of backers who think that he would be a key player as all-rounder in this World Cup. Former England spinner Phil Tufnell said: "He [Ali] gives us fantastic depth [with the bat] and bowls his off-spin very, very nicely. I see him as a lot more than a part-time bowler, he has got rid of that tag now. Ali is a genuine off-spin bowler for England now, and bowls it really well, so he is going to have a big role to play in those middle overs."

Moeen may feel that it will be the wrist spinners who will overshadow the finger spinners, but there are a lot of takers for the finger spinners too. It's just a matter of how the teams decide to use them in varying conditions during the World Cup to their maximum advantage.

36
Total number of wickets claimed by Kuldeep and Yuzvendra Chahal in ODIs this year

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