Hyderabad: The 13th season of the much-talked-about Indian Premier League is just around the corner. And ahead of the auction, here is the list of top five spinners who could start a bidding war among the teams in the auction.
On Thursday, over 300 cricketers will go under the hammer by the auctioneer at the IPL 2020 players' auction in Kolkata.
In the last 12 editions of the mega T20 event, IPL has proven to be a top platform for spinners across the globe to prove their worth.
Over the years, Afghan cricketer Rashid Khan, West Indies' Sunil Narine and South Africa's Imran Tahir have become integral members of their respective franchises as they have proven themself to be a match-winner.
Here are five spinners who might start bidding wars among IPL teams in the auction:
Tabraiz Shamsi
After Imran Tahir's retirement from South Africa national team from Test and ODIs, Tabraiz Shamsi has become the rainbow nation's frontline spinner in the given formats.
However, Shamsi is still the second fiddle in South Africa's T20 team as Tahir is yet to retire from the shortest format of the game.
Even though he is not South Africa's top choice spinner in T20Is, he is still counted as one of the best spinners in the modern age.
Being a left-arm wrist-spinner provides Shamsi an edge when it comes variety. In the just-concluded Mzansi Super League, Shamsi ended as the second-highest wicket-taker.
He bagged 16 wickets from just 10 matches.
Piyush Chawla
Piyush Chawla, a veteran of 157 IPL matches, has 150 wickets under his belt at an economy rate of 7.82 and will go under the hammer at a base price of Rs. 1 crore.
Chawla was part of Kolkata Knight Riders in the last season of Indian Premier League and ahead of the auction, KKR have released him.
Even though Chawala is no longer part of Indian national squad, he can be crucial for any IPL team, as the cricket pitches in the country support spinners, that is looking to take the trophy home.
In Chawal, IPL teams can get a world-class spinner as well as a mentor for young talents.
Nathan Lyon
Nathan Lyon would arguably go down as one of the greatest spinners Australia have ever produced. However, despite Lyon's brilliant record in domestic T20 matches, he has not been able to find much luck among IPL franchises.
Lyon has so far played 40 T20 matches and bagged 49 wickets at an average of 20.02.
Hayden Walsh Jr.
Hayden Walsh Jr. is another name from West Indies that can trigger a bidding war among Indian Premier League teams.
Even though Walsh Jr has played just seven international T20I matches and he is yet to play in the IPL, his impressive CPL 2019 outing for Barbados Tridents makes him one of the players to watch out during auction.
Wales bagged 22 wickets in the recently concluded CPL 2019. And during the just-concluded three-match T20I series against India, he had shown how his ability with leg-breaks can be useful on turning tracks.
Adam Zampa
Adam Zampa is one of the best spinners in Australia's limited-overs line-up. The leg-spinner has bagged 144 T20 wickets in 132 appearances. And teams like Kings XI Punjab and MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings might get into a bidding war to sign the Australian.
KXIP recently traded their frontline spinner R Ashwin to Delhi Capitals and CSK always go with a few extra spinners. So it would be interesting to which IPL team would be able to bag the services of Zampa.
