Washington Sundar, the powerplay specialist, was not picked for Asia Cup

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In the 2017 Natwest Blast, Kent came up with a novel tactic. Darren Stevens, the cult hero, would take the new ball, bowl an over of medium-pace and then disappear. In his last four outings for India, Washington Sundar performed a similar role. He would turn up in the fourth over, grab a wicket with his offspin, stifle batsmen, and not bowl thereafter.

Powerplay bowling has been his USP since international debut—he took the new ball in his first game, and in 51 subsequent outings, has bowled the first or second over twenty times, and operated inside the power-play in other eleven instances.

But for the upcoming Asia Cup, India tore the old template apart. Not that Washington’s prowess has waned, the lanky off-spinner had nabbed a wicket in his first over in three of his last four T20Is, but that India’s stable is so well-stocked with thoroughbreds that they could look beyond him. He would feel it unfortunate, but the modern T20 world is a ruthless space. So rather than extra spin-bowling all-rounder, they sought other dimensions. The left-arm wrist spin of Kuldeep Yadav, the medium-pace all-round utility of Shivam Dube and the lower-order fizz of Rinku Singh.

Indian spinner Washington Sundar in action against England. (AP) Washington Sundar would feel it unfortunate, but the modern T20 world is a ruthless space. (AP Photo)

Conviction stems from the power-play nous of Axar Patel and Varun Chakaravarthy.

These are names that roll off tongue instantly when discussing power-play spinners. But the pair are quite prolific. Axar is the fifth highest wicket-taker in IPL power-plays (19 wickets from 594 balls), and has 37 wickets in both T20Is and IPL combined. Varun has 20 scalps from 474 balls and a staggering economy rate of 6.54. Washington’s numbers are not inferior (33 wickets from 750 balls and an economy rate of 7.4), but the selectors and team management perceived that he is redundant.

The leap of faith in international games came from Varun’s recent exploits in the first six overs. In his last three games, he has bowled splendidly in this phase, be it plucking wickets or shackling the scoring. In Rajkot against England, he bowled the sixth over and gave only three runs, straight after an over of Washington that cost 15 runs. In Pune, he conceded five and in Mumbai he ejected the dangerous Jos Buttler. Axar regularly contributed an over or two in this passage in the T20 World Cup. So the signs for overlooking Washington Sundar, even if the margins were threadbare, were there.

The values they bring are different. Washington, with his height and high-arm action, generates bounce. The new ball has a tendency to skid on and keep relatively low, thus creating an effect of variable bounce. He doesn’t offer them the width to free-swing down the ground. He is an off-spinner difficult to line up, through the leg-side. But Chakaravarthy has startling variations, and he could spin the ball both ways. The carrom-ball zips and, sometimes, spins more than with the older ball. He slips in the seam-up variations—he plied medium pace at the start of his career—that tucks away. His toolkit of varieties mean that the batsmen cannot premeditate strokes, despite the field restrictions.

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His methods keep evolving. Not satisfied with the deception methods he possessed, he sharpened his over-spin part. “After the 2021 World Cup, I analysed my bowling and what I found was I was bowling more sidespin, and I wasn’t being able to beat the batsmen through sidespin,” he said during the England series. “I worked out that I need to beat them with bounce. Then I started working with overspin. If it bounces more, the chances are I can get it to spin more,” he added. Dip and drop are closer allies than before as well.

The shinier ball aids Axar’s bowling too. Often the ball skids into the right-hander’s pads, but with the new ball, he straightens the odd one to keep the batsman wary. His mindset, he said after winning the man of the match cheque for his 3/23 against England in the World Cup semifinal, which included overs and wickets in the powerplay, was “to put the ball in the right areas.”

The wickets of Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow illustrate the crux of Axar’s bowling. Batsmen assume they could slug him through mid-wicket with the angle. So did Bairstow, but he had pushed the ball quicker and from a slightly lower release point. Bairstow’s hoick swiped thin air and was bowled. The opposite trick fooled Buttler, who was prematurely into a reverse-sweep and managed only a glove to the wicket-keeper. He is exceptional at bowling what the spin coaches call the “cutting” ball. A shortish, fastish ball with fielders guarding the square boundaries. Often, a single ensued.

Two other factors could have influenced the downgrading of Washington. A) Kuldeep Yadav’s return means that the spin-gang is too packed for comfort. India already have a standard finger-spinner in Axar. Moreover, Kuldeep bowling in the middle overs could free up Varun and Axar to contribute more overs with the new balls.

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B) India is getting smarter. Rather than preserving the best spinner for the middle overs, as had been the trend, they are flashing the trump card straightaway. The logic that any spinner could get away with a cheap powerplay over, feeding on batsmen’s early circumspection, has become outdated. Employing spin in powerplay is no longer a left-field ploy, rather a cliche. So the progressive teams search for upgrading the concept, as an aggressive wicket-taking weapon than a pure defensive one. And no other tribe in the game has embraced T20’s perpetual quest for competitive edges than the spinners. Washington was merely an unfortunate casualty of this pursuit for spin-bowling cutting edge and quest for varieties.

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