Thaindian News

Islamabad, Mar 8(ANI): Opening the bowling attack with a spin bowler in the World Cup 2011 matches is “a terrific idea” due to the spin-friendly pitches of the subcontinent, Pakistani leg spinner Danish Kaneria has said.

“With the Kookaburra ball due to its seam, using a spin bowler right away is a terrific idea. You can already notice the effectiveness of spinners during all periods of the game and how adaptive they are,” PakPassion.Net quoted Kaneria, as saying.

He has opened with the new ball in the past and was upbeat about his experience.

“I have bowled with the new ball in the past and I have very good experience. There are wickets to be had if the ball starts gripping as it sometimes does,” he stated.

When asked whether spin bowling would end up playing a decisive role in the ongoing World Cup that is being hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Kaneria said he felt that it would.

“Well, you can already notice it’s importance as Tahir and Afridi are doing extremely well at the moment. Spinners are very important due to the pitches that are on offer in the subcontinent,” he explained.

The advent of ‘batting powerplay’ has made leg spin an attractive and aggressive option for ODI skippers, and Kaneria felt that utilising spin bowling could be a useful tactic during the powerplay overs.

“In the batting powerplay under the right conditions, it is wise to go with a fast bowler from one end and a spinner from the other,” he said, referring to the tactic of reverse swing from one end and massive spin from the other.

Kaneria was also all praises for India’s Piyush Chawla and Canada’s Balaji Rao.

“Piyush Chawla is bowling lovely line and length deliveries and he has been imposing. Balaji Rao, despite having a larger build, is still bowling beautifully and has been well-organised from what I have seen,” he said. (ANI)