5 best off-spinners in cricket today

The special skill of spin bowling has been gifted to numerous bowlers in the history of the game, but the most memorable names have remained barely a few. From the days of Jim Laker, Richie Benaud and Derek Underwood to the dominating quartet of Indian tweakers in the 1970s and 1980s, from the golden days of Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan and Anil Kumble to the modern experts Ravichandran Ashwin and Nathan Lyon, among others, the art has forever delighted aficionados of spin bowling, who have been greeted with mesmerizing displays of the turning and bouncing ball.

Five best off-spinners currently ruling batsmen with their sharpness in the days of slambang batting have been mentioned below.

5. Dilruwan Perera

An unsuccessful ODI debut in 2007 saw Sri Lanka's Dilruwan Perera dropped from the set-up then consisting of the legendary Muttiah Muralitharan and the rising Rangana Herath.

But once he returned for a Test debut in 2014, he started with a bang though it was with the bat. A knock of career-best 95 against Pakistan commenced a great journey for a bowler with a smooth round-arm action.

Not a great turner of the ball, Perera relies more on landing the ball in the right areas and prevailing with accurate line and length.

An introduction to Test cricket aged 33 made little difference, as Perera collected 5 wickets in both Tests in Bangladesh in 2014, before bagging 16 wickets against South Africa at home later in the year.

His consistent performance in the company of cohort Rangana Herath fashioned multiple Sri Lanka wins, particularly on helpful surfaces.

After having bagged 81 wickets at 32.95 after 19 Tests, Perera’s golden moment came against Australia in 2016, when a match haul of 10/99, including a best of 6/70, foxed the visitors miserably, who eventually lost the series 0-3.

Despite age not being on his side, Sri Lanka have unearthed a bowler persisting with whom for a decent amount of time has a big possibility of paying rich dividends.

4. Mehedi Hasan

Hasan, 19, claimed three six-wicket hauls in his debut series in 2016

The latest discovery from a nation renowned for enormous potential, Mehedi Hasan burst onto the Test arena in October 2016 when the visiting England side found the teenager too hot to handle.

Utilising his effective action to allow the ball to turn off the surface, Mehedi took 6/80 on debut and followed that up with 6/82 in the second Test to achieve the rare landmark – he was only the fourth spinner to the feat – of claiming a five-for in his first Two Tests.

He ended up with 19 wickets in two matches – three six-wickets hauls were the icing on the cake – and announced his arrival in an emphatic manner.

But Hasan had created history even before making it to the senior team. In Bangladesh’s only second appearance in an Under-19 World Cup in 2016, he led a troop of young, energetic cricketers to the semi-final in front of a jubilating home crowd.

A respectable tail-ender, Mehedi can hurt the opposition with useful runs eventually proving to be costly, as is testified by a Test fifty, though in vain.

He excelled in Sri Lanka in yet another decorated moment in Bangladesh cricket, when 10 scalps in two games made it even more special after Bangladesh beat the hosts in the Colombo Test. A massive 35 wickets in merely 7 Tests at 31.80 indicates a bright future awaiting for the young player.

3. Moeen Ali

Ali bowled exceptionally against South Africa during England's home summer this year

Undoubtedly the most under-rated spinner in international cricket presently, Moeen Ali has had his share of ups and downs in a topsy-turvy career where he switched roles from being a middle-order batsman to becoming a maturing spin-bowling all-rounder.

A devastating haul of 19 wickets against spin experts India at home in 2014 was initially under-rated only for Moeen to have found his share of respect later.

Each time critics aimed a dig at him, he answered by collecting wickets at the right time. A fortunate interaction with former off-spinner-turned-umpire Kumar Dharmasena taught him to maintain pace without losing out on flight, and on the advice of his teammate Ian Bell for the need to bowl quicker aided Moeen’s cause. Under the guidance of England’s one-time spin bowling consultant, legendary Pakistani bowler Saqlain Mushtaq, his skills grew with time, which reaped dividends for Ali.

Ali operated perfectly in Bangladesh in 2016 and then targeted the touring South Africans during the home summer in 2017, as a maiden ten-for at Lord’s, which comprised a career-best 6/53, earned him accolades aplenty.

If that was not enough, he became the first England spinner since 1938 to have bagged a Test hat-trick, which he achieved against the same opponents at The Oval just two games later. He now has 118 wickets at a rapidly improving average of 37.80, and it is high time that he was taken seriously by batsmen.

2. Nathan Lyon

Nathan Lyon is the most successful off-spinner for Australia in Test cricket

After exposing a dozen spinners to the demands of international cricket post the retirement of the great Shane Warne in 2007, Australia finally found someone to rely on after Nathan Lyon, a former groundsman at the Adelaide Oval, satisfied the selectors with impressive outings. He entered the scene with a debut five-for against Sri Lanka in 2011.

A bowler flighting the ball with liberty, Lyon also turns the red ball well to exploit the pitch and grab attention his way. In 2011, he bagged 7/88 against New Zealand at Brisbane, still an Australian record at the venue.

Not for nothing is Lyon his country’s most successful off-spinner – he eclipsed the gentle Hugh Trumble in 2015 – as with time, he has learnt to bamboozle batsmen with accuracy and consistency. As his career progressed, he faced criticism that he failed to read sub-continent pitches well and often failed to bowl Australia to victory on tracks tailor made for slow bowlers.

However, Lyon finally found success in India first on the 2013 tour, where he bagged 7/94 in Delhi, and then in 2017, when he snaffled twin five-wicket hauls, including a magnificent 8/50 on a first-day Bangalore track. A tally of 247 wickets at 33.39 after 67 Tests is leading Lyon in the right direction to becoming one of his country’s best spin bowlers, especially after Warne.

1. Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin already has 26 five-wicket hauls in only 51 Tests

Perhaps the most threatening of the lot, Ravichandran Ashwin is currently the shining star of the Indian team, especially in Asian conditions. Ashwin has all the weapons available in his repertoire: the off-spinner, the doosra, the flipper, the carrom ball and the top spinner. His immaculate rise in the longer format since 2015 has almost bewildered most viewers.

Often accused of trying too many variations in the early part of his career, Ashwin benefited from focusing on solely the off-spinner, which turns into the right-hander while drifting away from the left-handers, and keeping the carrom ball only as a surprise element.

He outfoxed Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and West Indies in their own backyard, though found life tough on the hard, pacy wickets of South Africa, England and Australia.

But a sharp brain coupled with a good height has enabled Ashwin to repeat match-winning performances and produce magical spells, often smashing records on the way.

There came a time when he had to adjust his action to suit his style, but he only got better with time.

He already brags of 26 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket after featuring in merely 51 matches, and at the speed at which Ashwin is racing – he is only fourteen away from a triple century of wickets – he is bound to touch great heights, much like his predecessors Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble.