New DelhiEven after winning the match, if there is fear in any camp, then you should understand that some big problem is following that team. By winning the second T20, South Africa leveled the series but could not find the answer to the question which has been troubling the team continuously for the last 6 years. The situation is such that in both the consecutive matches, first at Durban and then at Gkebarha, the entire team was seen getting entangled in the same puzzle. The name of this puzzle is the wrist artist.
It is not a new thing for South African batsmen to be defeated by wrist spinners. So far, Varun Chakraborty and Ravi Bishnoi have taken 12 wickets in two matches of this series. The weakness of the African batsmen in white ball cricket was once again exposed when to achieve the target of 124 runs, 7 batsmen were out out of which 6 wickets were in the name of wrist spin bowlers.
Africa’s wrist opens in front of the wrist
For the first time, the surrender of African batsmen in front of wrist casts was seen in 2018 when the pair of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav i.e. Kulcha devastated the African batting. Kulcha pair took 33 wickets in the 6-match ODI series. In which Kuldeep got 17 wickets and Chahal got 16 wickets. Wrist spinners dominated in the first two matches of the T20 series in 2024. Varun Chakraborty has taken 8 wickets and Bishnoi has taken 4 wickets in two matches. The host team management is very worried about the way both the bowlers troubled the Proteas batsmen.
Why wrist spinners seem risky
Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi are almost similar bowlers i.e. leg spin action or grip. They continuously bring the balls inside for the right-handed batsman. This ball, thrown with leg break action, after falling on the pitch, comes in front of the batsman in the form of off break. Often the batsman gets dodged by this ball because the bowler does not need to change his action. However, in this the wrist rotates faster than the leg brake. During this the wrist is at an angle of 180 degrees from the ground.
In googly, the third finger of the spinner’s hand helps the ball to turn in the other direction. The bowler’s grip on the ball remains the same, only the direction changes. Well, both the bowlers have a lot of variation like they can bowl flipper, top spin without changing the action. Varun also has expertise in throwing carrom ball. Overall, it is clear that for African batsmen, these wrist artists are no less than a miracle and that is why they are constantly falling prey to these bowlers.
Tags: India vs South Africa, Ravi Bishnoi, Suryakumar Yadav, Varun Chakraborty
FIRST PUBLISHED: November 11, 2024, 16:18 IST