ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup: Will the absence of a right-arm leg-spinner bite the Indian team?

Team India Illustration

A firm favourite for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, India believes it has all the bases covered going into the tournament even in the absence of a right-arm leg-spinner in its ranks.

The left-arm wrist spin is taken care of by Kuldeep Yadav, who has taken 33 wickets in 17 ODIs so far this year. Our man from Uttar Pradesh has bowled with a brilliant economy of 4.54 runs per over, and a tidy average of 15.52 runs per wicket, which is 10 runs less than his ODI average. His wicket-taking abilities and mature personality has made him a force to reckon with. Thus, he has got the nod ahead of other wrist spinners, including right-arm leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.

The closest the Indian team has to a right-arm leg-spinner is Shreyas Iyer, who has sent down 37 deliveries in ODIs without a wicket, with an economy of 6.32.

However, on Indian pitches that are known to assist spinners, it pays to have a right-arm wrist spinner to add variety, as the team has left-arm spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav and an experienced right-arm off-spinner in Ravichandran Ashwin.

A look at the other nine participating teams will reveal at least one right-arm leg-break bowler in most of them — Rashid Khan (the highest-ranked ODI leg-spinner) and Rahmat Shah of Afghanistan; Adam Zampa and Steve Smith of Australia; Adil Rashid, Dawid Malan, and Liam Livingstone (he bowls both leg- and off-spin).

Saqib Zulfiqar of The Netherlands showed promise in the ICC World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe earlier this year, while his team-mate Shariz Ahmad provided another leg-spin option; New Zealand recalled Ish Sodhi, especially for the World Cup, and he warmed up by picking up 6/39 in New Zealand’s series win in Bangladesh recently.

Pakistan has two leg-spinners in Shadab Khan (though he’s not been in top form) and Usama Mir; South Africa has part-time bowler Rassie van der Dussen — he has bowled only one over in ODIs, picking up a wicket.

Ace leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga has been kept out of the Sri Lankan squad as he has not recovered fully from a hamstring tear. However, Hasaranga will be considered as a replacement should a squad member get injured during the tournament. Inexperienced all-rounder Dushan Hemantha also gives Sri Lanka that leg-spin option if the need arises.

It is no guarantee that leg-spinners will win you World Cups, unless you are Shane Warne. Warne took 20 wickets in Australia’s successful World Cup campaign in 1999, including a man-of-the-match performance of 4/33 in the final against Pakistan. In the 1996 World Cup in the Asian sub-continent, Warne took 12 wickets but none in the final, where Australia lost to Sri Lanka.

Ball control is a leg-spinner's greatest challenge and it is common to see such bowlers sending down full tosses and short-pitched deliveries that are promptly hit for boundaries.

In the previous two World Cup editions that have been held in the Indian sub-continent, leg-spinners have had a role to play. India’s Anil Kumble emerged as the leading wicket-taker in the 1996 World Cup with 15 scalps, while in 2011, Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi took the most wickets, along with India’s left-arm medium-pacer Zaheer Khan -- 21.

Former India leg-spinner, Piyush Chawla, who was a member of the 2011 World Cup-winning Indian team, believes the absence of a leg-spinner in the squad will not bite the side hard.

Chawla, who played three matches in the 2011 World Cup and picked up four wickets, told Moneycontrol: “Not having a leg-spinner won’t impact the Indian team. The team needed a wrist spinner and it already has one in Kuldeep. Chahal was probably next in line, but looking at the balance of the team, they needed just one wrist spinner. Kuldeep has done well in the recent past.

“A right-arm leg-spinner can be a match-winner, but other players have also done really well. The balance of the team is most important and when the squad is restricted to 15, sometimes you have to compromise in certain departments. We have to look into the batting depth as well. The selectors and the captain are happy with the current team.”

The 34-year-old former leg-spinner who has picked up 32 wickets in 25 ODIs and was also a member of the 2007 T20 World Cup-winning squad, singled out Australia’s Zampa as the one to watch among the leg-spinners.

Chawla said: “Zampa has done really well, especially in the way he has bowled in India. He is one of the spinners to watch out for. He has played in the IPL. When you have played on a particular pitch at a particular ground, you know what the nuances of that ground are. When you know the conditions, it is always helpful.”