Saturday, February 13, 2016

Impact of Australian Spin Bowling in the WT20 2016, India

Every team that will play in the ICC WT20 2016 will need to have an arsenal of good spinners as the tracks are certain to get slower as the tournament goes on and the pitches begin to tire. Australia has opted for two relative green-horns in this department overlooking the much more experienced Nathan Lyon and Cameron Boyce. Whether this decision by the selectors is vindicated or not will be known in the next month and a half. Let us analyse what impact the Australian spinners are expected to have on their fortunes in the mega event.

Adam Zampa

Zampa is a young leg break bowler from New South Wales who has the ability to turn the ball and he can deceive the batsman in flight and with his changes in pace. He had a successful Big Bash League with the Melbourne Stars where he was amongst the wickets throughout and when given a chance to prove his mettle with the Aussie ODI team, he left quite an impression with his leggies against the Kiwi’s in the recently concluded Chappell-Hadlee trophy.

Zampa might have another thing going for him and that is his control over the ball, along with the fact that most teams would have actually not faced him before and hence he might surprise them. He is also a decent batsman lower down the order which might prove to be useful.

Impact rating – 6/10

Ashton Agar

Ashton Agar shot to limelight as a teenager when he slammed a 98 on test debut in an Ashes test against England, coming in at number 11 and recuing Australia from a precarious 119/9. He had modest success as a spinner though and he faded away from the international scene just as quickly as he had risen. He picked up just 2 wickets in the 8 BBL05 games that he played recently and made a solitary fifty. But the selectors definitely saw something in the youngster to pick him ahead of Lyon and Boyce for the mega tourney and how successful is Agar’s second coming with the Australian team might have a huge impact on his career.

Impact Rating – 4.5/10

Glenn Maxwell

Glenn Maxwell is primarily in the Australian team as a batsman but in India his quickish off breaks will be more than handy and I am sure that he will be called upon in every game to roll his arm over for at least a couple of overs. He generally bowls quick off breaks, often darting the ball in but has the ability to give it a rip and extract turn and bounce. He has had a torrid time as a batsman with his last 5 scores all being under 10, including two 0’s but he can be a brutal batsman when on song and a brilliant fielder anywhere on the field.

Impact Rating – 5/10

The Australian teams seems to me to be short on quality when it comes to spin bowling and as spin might play a huge role, it is almost certain to hamper their progress at some point in the tournament. India is a place where good spinners are rewarded but average one’s tend to get punished as the pitches are easy paced.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

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