Varun Chakravarthy, Abrar Hamed, Usman Tariq Mystery Spinner: ‘Mystery Spinner’ Varun, Abrar and Tariq will test the batsmen on Premadasa’s slow pitch.

Colombo. If ‘mystery spinners’ Varun Chakravarthy, Abrar Ahmed and Usman Tariq have watched the T20 World Cup match played between Australia and Zimbabwe at the Premadasa Stadium, then they will be very excited before the big match between India and Pakistan on Sunday. On the fresh pitch of Premadasa, Zimbabwe’s bowlers used slow balls to restrict the Australian batsmen and won by 23 runs. In such a situation, it is difficult to even imagine what effect the bowling of ‘mystery’ spinners Chakraborty, Ahmed and Tariq can have on this pitch. During the IPL last year, Chakravarthy improved from ‘sidespin’ to ‘overspin’.

With slight variations in angle, Varun Chakravarthy bowls faster than many other spinners (average 95 kmph). However, this pitch may force them to slow down their pace. Former Indian spinner Sunil Joshi said, ‘At such speed and angle, length is more important. Varun has ideal length, so the batsman cannot comfortably step back and play pulls or big shots. He can raise a lot of questions in the minds of the batsmen with his length.

This is not good for a batsman like Babar Azam, who bats at number four and has struggled with Chakraborty’s deliveries. The former Pakistan captain is still struggling from the beginning and his hesitation was visible in the last match against America. But Pakistan has a strong answer to Chakraborty in Tariq. His ‘pause and sling’ style of bowling has already started a lot of discussion in cricket. Now on Sunday, this off-spinner would like to stop India’s strong batting order. Some people see a glimpse of Sri Lankan bowler Lasith Malinga in him.

Nabeel Hashmi, manager of Quetta Gladiators, Tariq’s team in the Pakistan Super League, said, ‘His action helps him keep the ball below the batsman’s eye line, so it is not easy to hit him. It seems as if yorkers are being played on every ball. He said, ‘But more than that, Tariq is a mature person who understands his game and reads the batsman well. He has gone through some difficulties. The complete action and ‘mystery’ further enhances his bowling.

Abrar is a bit underrated and Indian batsmen have also played against him a few times, but on a pitch like Premadasa, this leg spinner can still be difficult. This 27 year old bowler depends on googly and carrom ball to surprise the players and out of his 49 T20 International wickets, 34 have been taken due to these two balls.

Former Sri Lankan spinner Upul Chandana said, ‘Premadasa often provides good help to the spinners. If you have seen how the Sri Lankan spinners play here, you just have to pitch the ball in the right place and track will do the rest. If the spinners get the right length then they can easily get bowled or LBW out.