Former Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Aakash Chopra picks the top 5 Indian stars in the IPL who are considered to be the best players of white-ball spin bowling. He ignored the top two run-scorers in IPL history, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
The IPL has been played at many venues in the Indian subcontinent. These positions provide promising amounts of spin and grip for tricksters. With the variable amount of spin provided by these tracks, spinners have also played a major role in this season of the IPL.
Ravi Bishnoi currently leads the IPL Purple Cap leaderboard, while spinners like Yuzvendra Chahal, Sunil Narine and many more have taken multiple wickets. Former cricketer Aakash Chopra has selected some batsmen who are considered to be the best batsmen against spin bowling.
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Aakash Chopra surprisingly ignores big names in list of best IPL batsmen against spin bowling
IPL has always been full of players who can take on spin bowling. Former Indian batsman Aakash Chopra has now picked the top five Indian batsmen against spin bowling. India has produced many such great batsmen.
However, Chopra surprised everyone as he did not include India’s two all-time great white-ball batsmen, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, in his list. Rohit Sharma is the second highest run scorer in IPL and has scored 7164 runs in 275 IPL matches. He is the second batsman to cross the 7000 run mark.
Chopra also did not pick Virat Kohli, who has scored 8790 runs in the IPL in a long career of 270 matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Aakash Chopra also picks MI and RCB batsmen in exclusive list of cricketers
At the No. 5 spot, Sunrisers Hyderabad opener Abhishek Sharma has been selected as one of the best batsmen against spin bowling. However, the southpaw’s recent struggles against off-spin have been overlooked given his excellent T20 record against spinners.
Although the batsman has made a slow start in this edition of the IPL, he has scored at an average of 42 with a strike rate of 184.60. He steps back and fires rockets down the leg side and faces the spinners to the best of his ability.
Two players from Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore teams have been selected for this list. Suryakumar Yadav has the uncanny ability to rotate the spinners at will, while RCB captain Rajat Patidar also impresses against the spinners with a huge average of 45 and a strike rate of over 168.
The RCB skipper has seen some promising form in this season of the IPL, with the batsman batting with a strike rate of 255 in two matches where he has averaged over 79, and has dominated the spinners with ease.
Shreyas Iyer was chosen the best batsman against spin
Aakash Chopra’s last two choices in the list of Indian batsmen include IPL-winning captain Shreyas Iyer at the top spot. The PBKS batsman has an excellent record against spinners, as the right-handed batsman has mastered the art of dismissing spinners off the front and back foot.
Thanks to his excellent footwork, he has scored runs at an average of over 43 and almost 140 against spinners throughout his T20 career. Chopra picked the tall CSK all-rounder, who has a reputation for knocking spinners out of the park, as the second name on his list.
This is Shivam Dubey, whose form against spinners and his strike rate makes him one of the best players with an amazing ability to beat spinners with ease.
Also read: Former RCB, PBKS, DC star mocks IPL, calls PSL better: ‘More of a Bollywood film than actual cricket’
