Is left not right? “No” is the answer, when it comes to left-arm orthodox spin bowling in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Bowlers of this type are low in demand in the most-watched cricket league in the world, and this has been a historical truth of sorts.
Talk about spinners in the IPL and one will see leg-spinners calling the shots, along with right-arm finger spinners of the orthodox and unorthodox kind. They are in demand. They go for big money. Somehow, in a competition played in the country of Bishan Singh Bedi, bowlers of his variety are hard to come by. They are left out!
Obviously, the likes of Kuldeep Yadav, with the Delhi Captitals, and Noor Ahmad, the Afghan starring for Gujarat Titans, are not part of this discussion because they are left-arm wrist spinners and not what is known as ‘orthodox’. Although left-arm spinners, what they do is very different because they use their wrist to spin the ball, while the orthodox ones use their fingers.
Take this season, for instance. Every side has at least one left-arm orthodox spinner in the roster. But how many play regularly? Ravindra Jadeja for Chennai Super Kings, Axar Patel for Delhi, and Krunal Pandya for Lucknow Super Giants. One may add Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Shahbaz Ahmed and Punjab Kings’ Harpreet Brar to the list. The point to note is, other than Brar, all are all-rounders. Bowling is just one half of the reason for which they are included in the XI.
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And why are these left-arm finger spinners not in demand? Take a look at the list of wicket-takers, and the answer will become clear. There is just one — Jadeja — in the top 20. The list is topped at the moment by Rashid Khan, a leg-spinner. There are four more leg-spinners, four off-spinners and Kuldeep on this list. Left-arm orthodox spinners simply do not succeed in this format. Their economy rates are not good either. Only Brar has been an exception on the economy front this season, without taking too many wickets.
There is a reason for this, and that is the lack of variations left-arm finger spinners bring. They bowl the one that turns and leaves the right-hand batters, and another one that comes in with the arm called the ‘armer’. In a format of the game played mostly on absolute belters, where a spinner’s job is to surprise the batters, they lack that element. They are predictable and therefore, easy fodder in a tournament like the IPL.
In comparison, a leg-spinner has the leg-break, googly, top-spinner and the flipper. Off-spin bowlers hardly rely only on the off-break and armer these days. They bowl carom balls and use their fingers differently to impart various kinds of spin which make them unpredictable. Ravichandran Ashwin, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy are examples. They are finger spinners with several variations.
For some reason, left-arm orthodox spinners have not evolved the way the right-arm orthodox spinners have. They never bowled the ‘doosra’ which is now banned. They never bowled the kind of stuff a Narine or a Chakravarthy does. One never saw them doing the kinds of things their right-handed counterparts did. They have remained what they used to be. And that’s why they are easy pickings in the IPL and hence, not ‘right’ for the tournament.