In its inaugural year the IPL succeeded in exploding many myths about the Twenty20 game – that it is a batsman’s game, that it is a game for the youngsters, that the seniors have no place in it and that it is all slam bang with little by way of strategic moves or tactical planning.
This time around there is no change in the scenario. If anything, the seniors are having a whale of a time, the bowlers are relishing the more responsive tracks in South Africa and the new innovation of strategic time-out – though the cynics might term it as nothing more than an extended commercial break – has played its part in teams making tactical moves. There is no denying the fact that more often than not the 7-and-a-half minute breaks have resulted in a change in a team's fortunes for better or worse.
Just examine some tell-tale statistics. The top five run-getters (Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Herschelle Gibbs) are all aged between 34 and 37. The best bowling figures (five for five) are in the name of 38-year-old Anil Kumble. The best overall strike rate for a batsman who has scored over 150 runs is Gilchrist (171.5)
Others who have made a mark are 37-year-old Muthiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne, who is in his 40th year. Indeed, the most significant feature during the first ten days of IPL II is the manner in which spin bowlers have been making an impact. Even if bowlers were to finish among the wickets given the slam bang format of the Twenty20 game, the theory was that fast bowlers would figure high in the list and not spin bowlers. Nothing can be further from the truth.
A band of skilful slow bowlers have spiked the specious argument and Kumble, Muralitharan, Warne, Daniel Vettori and Harbhajan Singh – proven performers all - have shown that the shortest form of the game is not only about batsmen whacking the ball out of the park with audacious stroke-play but also about sinuous deliveries baffling, bewildering and bemusing them. Kevin Pietersen for one discovered this much to his dismay. The Royal Challengers captain tried the switch hit against Vettori only for the experienced Delhi Daredevils left arm spinner to make a fair mess of his stumps.
Probably the most heartening feature is the fact that lesser known spin bowlers have also troubled the batsmen. Pragyaj Ojha, yet to establish himself at the international level, has been the toast of the Deccan Chargers camp. In four matches, the talented left arm spinner has picked up eight wickets from 14 overs with an impressive strike and economy rate while his average is in single figures (just over nine). But more than the stats it is the manner in which he has bowled that has been really eye catching.
However, to me, the defining moment of the competition from a spin bowler's viewpoint has been the dismissal of the in-form AB de Villiers in the match between Royal Challengers and Delhi Daredevils. The man of the moment was the relatively unknown KP Appanna, a 20-year-old left arm spinner. Fresh from his unbeaten century against Chennai Super Kings, experienced South African batsman De Villiers (an excellent player of spin bowling) was on 21 and looked in good touch until Appanna beat him in the air as he came forward and then got the ball to curl away from his defensive prod. The ball pitched just outside the leg stump and disturbed the leg stump. It was a classical spinners’ dismissal the kind you would hope to see in a Test match and not a Twenty20 game.
Yes, the tweakers are spinning webs around the best batsmen in the world and IPL II is all the more entertaining and engrossing because of this. Spin is turning out to be a major factor in the tournament and it would come as no surprise if a spin bowler is the leading wicket taker or one with the best average, strike rate and economy rate at the end of the tournament just as it would not be a surprise if the senior statesmen of international cricket turn out to be the leading batsmen.