Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
For Quick Alerts
Subscribe Now  
For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts
 

ICC World Cup 2019: Spinners failed to impress

The 12th edition of the cricket World Cup came to a dramatic conclusion on Sunday when England and New Zealand locked horns in a thrilling yet controversial final.

Yuzvendra Chahal was the most successful spinner in this World Cup

Bengaluru, July 16: The 12th edition of the cricket World Cup came to a dramatic conclusion on Sunday when England and New Zealand locked horns in a thrilling yet controversial final.

The hosts were eventually crowned the world champions by the virtue of hitting more boundaries than the Black Caps, who lost their second final in a row. Kane Williamson was announced the man of the series while Rohit Sharma and Mitchell Starc finished with maximum runs (578) and wickets (27), respectively.

It was a shock of sorts to see the spinners missing out big time in this World Cup. It is not that one would have thought the spinners to dominate the tournament in England, but yet there were expectations that some of them would really mesmerize the tournament by spinning a web. But the expectations weren’t really fulfilled.

Even the ICC Team of Tournament that was revealed after the contest got over had no specialist spinner in it. Shakib Al Hasan got entry but it was more because of his exploits with the bat.

Spinners, especially the leggies, were expected to deliver in this World Cup. From the 40-year-old Imran Tahir to the 20-year-old Rashid Khan, there were leggies who were operating at different levels of their career but none could fulfil what was expected of them.

Here we take a look at a few of the leg-spinners in the cricket World Cup 2019:

Yuzvendra Chahal:

Yuzvendra Chahal:

The wrist-spinner had a good start to his first World Cup campaign with a four-for against South Africa. However, the subsequent matches weren’t as great as he ended up with 12 scalps from eight matches at an economy rate of 5.97.

That figure however was more because of the hammering he got against England at Edgbaston. Yet, Chahal was the most successful spinner in this World Cup which was dominated by the seamers (pacers took 492 wickets in this WC as against the spinners’ 136).

Rashid Khan:

Rashid Khan:

Rashid was also playing in his first World Cup and it was thought that the Afghan leggie will spin a sensation. Experts felt he didn’t look as lethal as he does in the T20Is where the batsmen are in the mindset of taking more chances against him.

The 20-year-old took only seven wickets in nine matches and conceded 416 runs. He didn’t bowl against New Zealand after getting hit on the head by a fast ball while against England, he had gone for 110 runs in nine overs without any reward.

Imran Tahir:

Imran Tahir:

The veteran leg-spinner played in his final World Cup and did his bit. But he didn’t have the support he needed from his fellow bowlers. Tahir took 11 wickets from nine matches at an average of below five. But SA’s overall batting failure hadn’t leave much for him to do. Tahir was the second highest wicket-taker for SA after Chris Morris who took 13.

Adam Zampa:

Adam Zampa:

The young Australian got to play only four games in this World Cup and claimed five scalps in all. Since the Aussies were highly dependent on their pace attack, Zampa didn’t get to play much. Nathan Lyon, the other spinner in their ranks also got to play just four games and picked three wickets.

Kuldeep Yadav:

Kuldeep Yadav:

A big disappointment of the World Cup. The Chinaman bowler did not have the touch in the Indian Premier League preceding the World Cup either and he ended up with only six wickets from seven games at an average of over 56.

His highest point in the tournament was castling Babar Azam with a beauty at Old Trafford on June 16 but that apart, it was almost a forgettable WC for the young spinner.

Story first published: Tuesday, July 16, 2019, 22:01 [IST]
Other articles published on Jul 16, 2019