In anticipation of Sunday’s highly anticipated India vs Pakistan match, mystery spinners Varun Chakravarthy, Abrar Ahmed, and Usman Tariq would have been giddy with anticipation if they had watched Friday’s T20 World Cup match between Australia and Zimbabwe at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Zimbabwe’s pacers stifled the Australian hitters with slower deliveries on a sticky, recently placed pitch at the R Premadasa Stadium, winning by an unexpected 23 runs on Friday. The impact that Chakravarthy, Ahmed, and Tariq, proprietors of a mysterious vessel, can have on batters on such a deck is therefore highly conceivable.
Given his preference for angles over turns, Chakravarthy’s move from sidespin to overspin during the 2025 Indian Premier League increased his effectiveness. In addition to his delicate angle changes, Chakravarthy bowls faster than many other modern spinners, averaging 95 kmph. However, he might have to reduce his speed on this pitch.
For someone like Babar Azam, who comes in at No. 4 and fits neatly into Chakravarthy’s functional arc, that simply does not sound good. The last game against the USA provided the most recent example of the former Pakistan captain’s unwillingness to adjust to the contemporary T20 format. He still finds it difficult to force speed from the outset.
His challenge against Chakravarthy, who seldom gives away any freebies, would be difficult because Babar needed 20 balls to hit his first six, which is uncommon even in ODIs these days.
However, the unconventional Tariq is a powerful weapon that Pakistan can use to counter Chakravarthy’s magic.
In cricket circles, his pause-and-sling-delivery technique has already generated a lot of discussion, and on Sunday, the off-spinner will want to halt the powerful Indian batting lineup in its tracks. The more discriminating would notice some similarities to the original slinger pacer, Lasith Malinga, who bowled for Sri Lanka.
In addition to the Indian batters playing against him a few times, Abrar has been somewhat de-mystified. However, the leg-spinner can still be a nuisance on a track that lacks speed, like the one at Premadasa. 34 of the 27-year-old’s 49 T20I wickets have come off googlies and carrom balls, which he uses to shock batters.
In contrast to more flashy contemporary leg-spinners like Yuzvendra Chahal, Abrar lands the ball on the stumps to produce pools of uncertainty in the batters rather than looping the ball to attract them. On Sunday, the Premadasa pitch might be Abrar’s ideal ally.
