Spin doctors set up thrilling World T20 climax in semi-finals
Six of top eight wicket-takers are deadly pacemen who may be deciding factor when West Indies face Sri Lanka and Proteas play India
Spinners, once considered irrelevant in hit-and-run cricket, will play a pivotal role when the World Twenty20 reaches the business end with the first of two semi-finals in Dhaka on Thursday.
Among the top eight wicket-takers in the elite Super-10 round, six are spinners with South Africa’s leggie Imran Tahir leading the pack with 11 wickets in four games.
Defending champions the West Indies, who clash with Sri Lanka on Thursday in a repeat of the 2012 final, boast two prolific slow bowlers in Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine.
We just want to go there and entertain cricket fans and give them their money’s worth. We play hard, but play fair
The duo shared six wickets as the Caribbean stars demolished Pakistan by 84 runs in the last league match on Tuesday to qualify for the semi-finals.
Sri Lanka have an ace up their sleeve in veteran left-armer Rangana Herath, whose sensational figures of 3.3-2-3-5 destroyed New Zealand in Chittagong on Monday.
The second semi-final on Friday between unbeaten India and South Africa could also boil down to a spinners’ showdown between Tahir and Indian pair Amit Mishra and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Leg-spinner Mishra’s nine-wicket haul in four games has been matched by off-break bowler Ashwin’s seven wickets, helping India to become the only team to win all four Super-10 matches.
