IPL 2025: CSK, KKR and MI spin-bowling departments look really good, says Piyush Chawla
New Delhi, March 20 (IANS) With just two days left to go for IPL 2025 to commence, veteran India leg-spinner Piyush Chawla said spin-bowling attacks of Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians are looking strong as compared to other teams.
“If we look at it, Chennai’s spin bowling department looks really good. If we talk about Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Noor Ahmed, I think Chennai is looking good. Then we can talk about KKR because Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy are both very experienced spinners.
“If we go to Mumbai Indians, there is a slight difference due to Allah Ghazanfar being injured (out of tournament due to back injury). But the form in which Mitchell Santner is in and Mujeeb Ur Rahman coming as Allah’s replacements, these three spin departments are looking good,” said Chawla, a JioStar expert for the 18th edition of the tournament, in an exclusive conversation with IANS on Thursday.
Quizzed about which spin-bowling line-ups appeared on the lighter side to him, Chawla stated it would be Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Royals. “If we look at RCB, it looks a little weak, as Suyash Sharma doesn’t have much experience. Plus, he hasn’t played that many matches. It’s not that easy to bowl in Chinnaswamy, to be very honest. Then there is Krunal Pandya, who plays the role of an all-rounder.”
“You do need a wicket-taking spinner in the middle overs. Krunal Pandya has certainly contained the batsmen in the last few years, but the wickets have not come that much. So I see a little bit of a weakness in spin bowling department of RCB here.
“I won’t say that the Rajasthan Royals spin bowling department is a little weak, but there are a lot dependent on overseas spinners, be it Wanindu Hasaranga or Maheesh Theekshana. So if you want to play both of them, then you will have to make some sacrifices either in the form of an overseas batter or fast bowler.”
Though Chawla, with 192 IPL wickets, believes it will take some time for the next big spinner from India to take the upcoming tournament by storm, he sees a golden chance for Suyash to take centrestage as RCB’s lead spinner at a home venue where wrist-spinners get hit for a lot of runs.
“Suyash Sharma used to be a little under the radar, because Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy were the main spinners at KKR. So he didn’t get so many opportunities, but now where he is a main spinner at RCB, Suyash has a good golden opportunity here to put in good performances by leading the spin bowling attack, though it won’t be easy.”
With all ten franchises investing a lot in wrist-spinners and left-arm spinners, it has meant that off-spinners aren’t much in demand. Chawla feels it has come down to wrist-spinners having that wicket-taking quality with their variations and skillsets as compared to off-spinners.
“To be honest, a wrist spinner is like a goldmine, because if you have an experienced wrist spinner, he can bowl you at any stage of the game – power play, middle or death overs. So wrist spinners have always been like gold in T20 cricket. The left-arm spinner is a little different, as in the past, teams used to have a lot of righties, so they needed an away-going spinner.”
“It’s the reason why left-arm spinners are seen there, and off-spinners are not like that. But the quality off-spinners who have that skill level, they have done very well. We call Sunil Narine a mystery spinner, but mainly he is an off-spinner only. Apart from him, Ashwin is there.”
“So there are off-spinners who have done well, but you need a high level of skill set to perform in this league, because it’s not easy and very difficult to bowl in the entire competition. So, then, wrist spinners obviously become very effective, because they have a wicket-taking ability. You need wickets there to stop the run flow, and a wrist spinner has more variations compared to a finger spinner,” he elaborated.
Chawla signed off by saying IPL 2025 performances won’t be given much consideration in deciding India’s team for next year’s T20 World Cup, which they will be playing on their home soil and in Sri Lanka as defending champions.
“Look, that’s a very far-fetched question, because after the IPL, there will be a lot of things happening, including the domestic cricket season. So if you think that I have done well here, then I am sorted for that – it’s not going to happen that way, as you will have to consistently do well.”
“The spinners who have done well now, whether it’s the Champions Trophy or the T20 World Cup – for example, Kuldeep Yadav is barely 30 years old. So he has another good 4-5 years of cricket in front of him. When you go to a tournament like the World Cup, you go for the experience, rather than going towards the youngsters,” he concluded.
–IANS
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