Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja said that spinners could be seen in action during the death overs when India starts off its ICC T20 World Cup Super Eights campaign against Afghanistan in Barbados from June 20 onwards. India will be taking on Afghanistan in their first Super Eight clash on June 20 at Bridgetown. India ended their unbeaten run in the group stage with wins over Ireland, Pakistan and the USA in low-scoring games, with their last game against Canada on June 15 being washed out due to rain. Afghanistan is also undefeated till yet, with big wins against Uganda, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. They will be taking on West Indies in their final group-stage game on Tuesday.
Speaking to Star Sports, Jadeja said that wickets in West Indies are slow and dry, offering a lot of help to spinners in middle overs.
“Whenever we play in the West Indies, the wicket remains a bit slow and dry. The match timing is also in the morning so spinners will have help. Even in India, there are many wickets where spinners get help. So it is a good thing that spinners will get help here in the middle overs. You could see spinners being used in the death overs as well,” said Jadeja.
Speaking to Star Sports, the Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav also agreed with Jadeja’s sentiments, saying that the bowlers’ lengths become crucial in T20I cricket.
“The spinners do get help in the West Indies and so I think four spinners are picked in the squad. In this format, the bowlers’ length becomes crucial and I have said this many times. I had played the T20I series against West Indies last year and it was a good series for the spinners so I expect similar pitches,” he said.
India will be aiming to do well against Afghanistan (June 20), Bangladesh (June 22) and Australia (24) and register big wins in order to qualify for the semifinals and end India’s drought for an ICC trophy since 2013’s Champions Trophy and also win their first T20 WC since 2007’s inaugural edition in South Africa.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj. Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan.
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