It has been the IPL of spinners. Sunil Narine for Kolkata and Amit Mishra for Hyderabad,not to forget Rajasthan's Ajit Chandila's double strike for Rajasthan and Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja for Chennai,almost all of them have left an impact on this edition. Infact,it was Narine's 24 wickets in the last edition that made all the difference and helped KKR win the championship. KKR captain Gautam Gambhir doesnt mind giving the new ball to the West Indian spinner. Tweakers have played a pivotal role for their teams in the past in IPL. But Kings XI Punjab haven't been so lucky. Leggie Piyush Chawla from Uttar Pradesh has been around ever since the inception of IPL but his performance this time hasn't really been upto the mark. He has played in 76 matches since the beginning for KXIP and bagged 76 wickets at an average of 25.44. In the ongoing IPL,Chawla has played in five matches and grabbed three wickets. However,he has failed to work his magic and failed to inspire his team,as till now there has not been a single game in which Chawla has bowled a match-winning spell. Known to be the most experienced campaigner for KXIP and also quite a favorite one with the franchise owners,Chawla has been quite an average bowler when it comes to delivering the goods. He might not be suffering from an injury but his fitness on the field has put question marks on his bowling abilities. It seems the 24-year-old spinner who was part of the India World Cup winning team in 2011,needs to get back into shape and rework on his bowling abilities that are seemingly losing its streak. Apart from Chawla,Bipul Sharma and Barghav Bhatt are other spinning options for KXIP but they continue to warm the benches. Left arm spinner Bipul,who was part of the Indian Cricket League (ICL),is a perfect T20 cricketer. The ball-rounder from Chandigarh,he is also a hard-hitter of the ball but he hasn't yet got a game this season. When asked about spinners who have been not effective in the team,team Assistant Coach and former Indian cricketer WV Raman said,I do not think we are short of quality spinners. The thing is that T20 format is very fast and unpredictable. When a spinner fails to take wickets or goes for too many runs,it is understandable in the T20 format. Chawla might have been promoted up the order against the Sunrisers on Friday,and scored a 15-ball 25 to propel his side,but its time for him to turn the tides with his bowling and put pressure on the oppositions.
