World’s second highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, Australia player Shane Warne shared his favourite spinners of recent time. India’s Kuldeep Yadav, Pakistan’s Yasir Shah and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan are his favourite spin bowlers currently. He further said that he is not too fond of defensive bowling in the limited overs cricket and that’s why he named Yadav, Shah and Khan as they are the spinners who are fearless, “not at all scared of getting hit”.
“A good spinner bowler is a good spin bowler. It doesn’t matter if he is a wrist spinner or a finger spinner. Saqlain Mushtaq, Muttiah Muralitharan, Daniel Vettori, there were so many good finger spinners in my time,” Shane Warne, the brand ambassador of Rajasthan Royals, told PTI.
“If you get a good wrist spinner, they are always going to get picked as they will always take wickets. They might go for a few more runs than someone else but they will always pick wickets. ODI cricket or even T20 is all about taking wickets in the middle overs and it is generally spin,” Warne added.
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While talking about his favourite spinners in white ball cricket, he shared, “The top three who I like watching and certainly I believe has an influence on (ODI/T20) games are Rashid Khan, Yasir Shah and Kuldeep Yadav. Those three are the best three going around at the moment and I really enjoy them watching the most.”
“They are very different from each other but they get the job done. And one thing that they all do. They attack. They don’t defend and they don’t mind being hit for runs. So I am looking forward to watching these three guys going against each other in the World Cup and watching them confuse batsmen which I like to see,” further added Warne.
While talking about Pant, he said that he would love to see India’s wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant in the squad for the upcoming ICC World Cup in England despite his poor form with the bat as well as with the gloves.
“MS Dhoni has to play in the World Cup. MS Dhoni is a class act and Virat Kohli needs his leadership experience as well to help him when the times are tough. You have a successor and the name is Rishabh Pant. He takes over when Dhoni decides to retire,” Warne added.
However, Warne further shared that there is no need to be Dhoni versus Pant. Both the players can play together where Dhoni as a keeper and Pant as a batsman.
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“I believe that Rishabh can play in the World Cup. They (Dhoni and Pant) can both play together in the XI. Dhoni is the keeper and Rishabh bats. I don’t think you have to say its Rishabh or Dhoni. Dhoni should be that experienced player, the keeper, the leader, the finisher and Pant can bat anywhere from 1 to 6. So when Dhoni decides to retire, Rishabh Pant takes over. It’s that easy,” he expressed.