There is no one in the IPL who has had a greater impact on a match, though it was the brilliant leg-spin attack of Ricky Ponting, who was in his final year in Chennai before retiring at the end of 2010, that won India their first series.
India’s bowling woes have been well documented, with their wicket-taking ratio dipping from 1.85 to 0.87 over the past two seasons. The bowling crisis and the batting collapse that followed has not only hurt England, a country of just over one billion people, but also caused India to miss the Champions Trophy and World Twenty20 for the second year running.
When you consider Australia have also struggled to compete against teams that have played in different forms of cricket – they lost their last match during the Champions Trophy, while they were beaten by South Africa (with two fifties), Bangladesh (nine wicketless) and West Indies (five wickets) – we also have to consider the impact that this kind of a Test match would have had on the Indian team.
How do you rate the performance of the top three spinners?
At various stage on this list, Australia have been in the top 10 and India have been close behind. In fact, their performance in the Test series against England at the SCG in 2013 ranks as another standout moment; at the time the match was going on, both Australian sides have ranked high on this list.
It all comes down to the importance of spin in winning these matches. The team’s inability to defend against spin, both in terms of their bowling and the number of wickets taken, has given an opportunity to teams in the top 12 and even to the likes of New Zealand, which took five wickets in that match to secure all three points for them.
How have the Australian batsmen been performing in the IPL?
This is the most difficult selection to make in my opinion. A few months ago I had pointed out that in my analysis the most important factor in a successful match is the performance of the batting line-up. It is very difficult to select a bowling attack of an established team as the players for both sides have all been around for a long time, playing in similar types of games.
Australia have been very creative with the bowling in the last couple years – for example, their four wicket haul from Australia at the SCG last April may or may not have been an important factor in their victory against England.
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