T20 WC 2021: Did the World Cup belong to spinners?
Among the top five wicket-takers in this tournament, three are spinners. Wanindu Hasaranga picked up 16, Adam Zampa got 13 while Shakib Al Hasan had 11 at the time when his campaign ended. But, the amount of wickets being taken by the spinners in this tournament has been incredible, which brings to the question ‘Did this T20 World Cup belong to spinners?’
There are two facets to the answers. One, it was in the Asian continent, so what else did you expect? And two, spinners do take a lot of wickets in T20 cricket, compared to what people may think. Let’s talk and break down how effective spinners were in the middle east conditions, keeping in mind how the four surfaces at this tournament have behaved.
Spin dominance
In Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi and for that matter, Muscat as well, the surfaces have been conducive for spinners. Most of the teams who played this tournament successfully had two, if not more spinners in their team. Interestingly enough, almost every team has a spinner in the bowling charts. But, that is how the spinners are used in these conditions.
Wanindu Hasaranga’s brilliant hat-trick against South Africa has been voted as the @nissan #POTD for Day 14 of the ICC Men’s #T20WorldCup 2021 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ZzerUmK9ad
— ICC (@ICC) October 31, 2021
Because of the dryness of the wicket and the nature of the soil, spinners get a bit more out of them than maybe some pitches in Australia, England or South Africa. Now, remember all these countries are in different continents, yet there is always a bit more for the pacers. But in the last ten years, spinners have shown how they can be effective in T20 cricket.
Of course, you wouldn’t use them at the death against the powerful hitters, but in all other stages of the game, they are useful. We saw Moeen Ali become a threat in the powerplay, we saw Zampa dry out runs every time he came, we saw Hasaranga take a hat-trick in the last quarter of an innings and we saw Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and Rashid Khan run through an associate nation.
Did it belong to the spinners? The answer is very subjective. Yes, the spinners got into the game in the middle overs, slowing run rates, taking wickets and creating difficulties for the batters. But, the surfaces have played a huge role in that. In fact, that was always going to be the case. However, there is another side to this coin.
The champions Australia had one class apart spinner in their ranks, who did everything they could. But, they did have three pacers and a couple of part-timers saving the day. Maybe, while answering the question, if this tournament belonged to the spinners, we need to say, that was always going to be the case, but spinners alone couldn’t have provided us with the quality of cricket which we ended up seeing. The pacers too adjusted brilliantly to the challenges of these conditions and provided fans with a perfect balance between seam and spin.
