T20 World Cup: Murali expects slow bowlers to dominate

By Champika Fernando 

in Abu Dhabi

Spin great Muttiah Muralidaran expects slow bowlers to shine over batters during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, starting with the qualifying round on Sunday. Muralidaran was in UAE with the Sunrises Hyderabad team and has had a close look at the pitches at the three IPL venues in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

“I have been out in the UAE for the IPL and looking at the wickets, it is clear that the spinners are going to have a huge role to play in the World Cup,” wrote Muralidaran in an article published by the International Cricket Council. “It will depend a lot on how the curators have prepared the wickets, but it looks like the spinners will be key as the batters were finding it hard to connect and it made for some low scoring.”

Muralidaran, the world record holder for most wickets in Test cricket with 800 scalps, believes that even the quicks now need to bowl slow to avoid the bowling coming onto the bat as much as possible. “The objective is to force the batter to put the effort in to hit the ball and take the risks as a result,” he explained. In T20, he says, defending is attacking.

“My experience, both as a player and a coach or mentor in T20 cricket, was that you have to approach it with a defensive mindset, whereas in ODIs or Tests, the aim is to take wickets. Defending is attacking in T20 in my mind, you need to aim to go for 6 or 6.5 runs an over and if you can manage that, you will probably take a couple of wickets as well,” he explained. “Sometimes in T20, if you’re bowling as a spinner, the Test length is not the right length,” he continued. “A good length will go for six, so you have to see what the batter is doing and bowl fuller or wider or sometimes very short. Sometimes it’s aiming for the body. You have to vary it depending on the conditions. You need to have the control and if you can do that, you will be very successful.”

He also says the first six overs of the match is crucial to the outcome, whether you are batting first or chasing a score: “I think that 70 to 80% of the game depends on those first six overs and the result comes down to how well you do in that period. People will look at the latter overs and, of course, they are important too, but if you don’t get it right at the start, there is so little time to catch up. It’s not like a one-day game or a Test match, everything comes down to getting a good start. That is part of the reason that I think the World Cup is wide open.”

Commenting on the Sri Lanka team, Muralidaran, who is a member of the Technical Advisory Committee, believes the team has capable players to reach the Super 12: “Frankly speaking, we were not good enough, and have not played good enough cricket which is why we are in this position. But the team has capable players who can reach the Super 12s and have an impact, but first, they have to qualify.” 

Sri Lanka is among six-team vying in the qualifying round starting Sunday. The top two teams in each group will qualify for the Super 12.

“The spinners are very good, whereas the batting is a little bit weaker, but if they can step up and manage decent totals, then the bowlers can defend them. If they make it through, I think they will upset a few teams,” he said.