Pakistan great Mushtaq Ahmed believes that when it comes to the shorter formats, spinners need to have a lot more variations in comparison the Test cricket where the traditional bowlers have continued to dominate.
Citing the example of India’s Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, Mushtaq pointed how the duo has been so successful for India in the past couple of years while the likes of R Ashwin, Nathan Lyon and Yasir Shah – despite being great – have been only limited to Tests.
“Look at Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. They have won so many (white ball) games for India in the last two years. Maybe the likes of Lyon, Ashwin and Yasir don’t have enough variations to survive in one-day cricket,” Mushtaq, a former Pakistan great told PTI in an exclusive interview.
The ex-Pakistan cricketer though reaffirmed that the purest format of the game remains the most challenging one.
“Test cricket remains the ultimate challenge for the spinners as you get to know their true skills. The likes of Yasir Shah, Nathan Lyon, Moeen Ali, Ashwin. These are the guys I admire. Their contribution to Test cricket has been huge,” said Ahmed.
Although the likes of Ashwin, Moeen have had success in ODI cricket too, it’s the past few years that has seen the trend change as the cricket world has witnessed a different breed of spinners rise.
“Some of them have been successful in one day cricket also but the game has changed drastically since the five fielder rule inside the (30-yard) circle came into being. For that, mystery spinners, as well as wrist spinners, have become more effective. Guys Like Adil Rashid, Adam Zampa, Yuvzendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Shadab Khan,” Ahmed said.
Opining on what it takes to be successful in one-day cricket, Mushtaq pointed out that in the shorter formats, the spinners need a lot more variations to be successful, unlike in Tests.
“In one day cricket, if the pitches are good and you don’t have variations or a mystery ball, you can’t survive. For example, a champion bowler like Lyon has been exposed in one day cricket. He has not been as successful as he has been in the longest format.”
“You need to have someone who can bowl leg-breaks, googlies, flippers, someone with a different (unorthodox) action. There is so much power hitting in the game, you need spinners with variations,” he added.
Further coming down to T20Is, Mushtaq revealed how tricky the shortest format of the game is where mystery spinners hold an advantage over the traditional art.
“In ODIs, you can still play one good conventional spinner but in T20s you need mystery spinners as he can get a wicket even with a bad ball as the batsman doesn’t have the time to read him,” said the 49-year-old.
