T20 World Cup 2021: Samuel Badree picks top spinners to watch out for in showpiece event

Dubai, October 17: Former West Indies leg-break bowler Samuel Badree has picked the top spinners to watch out for in the T20 World Cup, to be held in the UAE and Oman.

Badree, who was known more his accuracy than for turning the ball, feels the slow nature of wickets in UAE will help spinners in the showpiece event which gets underway from Sunday (October 17) with the preliminary round matches.

"Because of the heat factor and the dry nature of the surfaces, you always expect spinners to do well. The slow nature of the pitches also helps with that," said Badree in an ICC release.

"Spinners will do particularly well in Dubai, as well as in Sharjah, which give you more of an opportunity. They will prosper less in Abu Dhabi because in my memory there is a lot of grass on the pitch there."

Revealing the spinners to watch out for in the tournament, Badree said South Africa's wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi will pose a huge challenge to batters.

"When it comes to the best spinner at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, it's hard to look past Tabraiz Shamsi," Badree wrote in a column for the ICC.

"The South African is ranked No.1 in the MRF Tyres ICC Men's T20I Player Rankings for a reason and as a left-armer, he poses a significant challenge for batters. Left-arm wrist spinners are rare in international cricket - he's very consistent, can turn the ball both ways and has tremendous control."

The 40-year-old was impressed by the way the South African spinner bowled against the West Indies during the Proteas tour to the Caribbean earlier this year and expects Shamsi to do well in the upcoming event.

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"I saw him recently in the Caribbean when South Africa played the West Indies and he was able to spin webs around the West Indian batters. I see him playing a major role for his team with the ball - he has the ability to bowl in different phases of the game, too, which is important.

"His captain Temba Bavuma will be able to call on him to deliver at any time in the innings and that's worth its weight in gold."

Badree also picked veteran India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin as one of the tweakers to watch out for along with Australian spin pair Adam Zampa in the showpiece.

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"In terms of other spinners, R Ashwin is of course there for India. He has that experience; he's played for quite a long time now. Australia can bowl Zampa and Agar in tandem and they have done well bowling together in the recent past," Badree added.

Although Spin will play crucial role during the T20 World Cup, the former leggie believes it is one of the weak points for defending champions West Indies.

"Most of the teams have quality spinners in their ranks - at least two of them, because of the conditions teams predict that they will face. They can all win games single-handedly," Badree added.

"That said, if there's one area of the West Indies team that I'm worried about, it's the spin department. It's an area of shortcoming for them."

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Badree, who took 187 wickets in competitive T20 cricket, including 56 from 52 internationals, said bar Hayden Walsh, who is not in the best of form, there is no out-and-out spinner in the Windies squad.

"They have the one frontline spinner, Hayden Walsh, who had an exceptional home series quite recently. He didn't have a good Caribbean Premier League and going into this tournament, his form is not the best and his confidence might not be the best," he said.

"He is quality enough to do well in the tournament, but outside of him, there aren't any out-and-out spinners. Being able to take wickets throughout the innings is so important."

Badree, who last played for West Indies in 2018, pointed out that spin was a big strength of the side when they won the T20 World Cup in 2012 and 2016.

"Spin was a big strength of ours when we won the tournament in 2012 and 2016. We had Sunil Narine, Sulieman Benn and myself who could all use the new ball in any game," said Badree.

"Spin is always important and has an integral role in T20 cricket - we've seen that in previous editions of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

"It's being played in the UAE and Oman, where we have traditionally come to expect slow conditions. I foresee spinners having a big impact in this tournament," he signed off.

(With PTI inputs)