IPL 2018: Leading leg-spinner from each IPL franchise

Thus far, the IPL 2018 has witnessed a handful of games and the leg spinners have already begun to dominate the proceedings. A couple of them have made a match-winning impact in their debut and proved to be unplayable. The tracks have started to turn in the first week of the tournament itself, which is a familiar sight in the IPL.

With a fair amount of off-spinners getting banned owing to suspected bowling action, the off-spinners don't risk bowling the doosra any longer as it can get them into trouble, and their cricketing career can take a bit of set-back as it happened to the likes of Saeed Ajmal, Sunil Narine, Sohag Gazi, Mohammed Hafeez and many more. In these circumstances, the franchises have begun to invest a great deal on the leg-spinners as it is not easy to pick the googly.

Since the last couple of years, or so, the leg-spinners have been dominating the IPL, and there are quite a few leggies in this year's IPL as well.

The top leggies from each IPL franchise are listed below.

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#1 Imran Tahir (Chennai Super Kings)

The leg-spinner from the rainbow nation has been a well-known figure in the IPL. In 34 IPL games that he has played, he has got 48 scalps beside his name and has contributed in some crucial junctures.

This season he didn't have a satisfactory outing with the ball against the Mumbai Indians but made a superb comeback against the Kolkata Knight Riders, and just conceded 26 runs in his quota of four overs.

#2 Amit Mishra (Delhi Daredevils)

Amit Mishra has been DD's silent hero

The veteran leggie didn't have the best of starts this season, going at about 11.5 runs per over, and didn't pick up any wickets. The Daredevils didn't consider him in the next game against the Rajasthan Royals bearing in mind his current form.

Even though he had a dreadful start to this year's IPL his potential and experience can't be disregarded. With 12 games to go for the Daredevils, he'll be a crucial spinner for them in the upcoming games, particularly towards the latter part of the tournament when the tracks will turn.

The veteran in his 127 IPL games has already picked up 134 wickets, which also comprises of a 5-wicket-haul, and he will certainly look to add to his tally this year as well.

#3 Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Kings XI Punjab)

Mujeeb Ur Rahman made his IPL debut this season

The 17-year-old leggie from Afghanistan has already impressed to a great extent in his IPL debut against the Delhi Daredevils at Mohali. He made a crucial impact in the first game by picking up the key wickets of danger men Colin Munro and Rishab Pant. He troubled some quality batsman from the Daredevils squad and just conceded 28 runs in his quota of 4 overs in a high-scoring encounter.

If he can generate this sort of performance on a consistent basis then the Men in Red can have a decent outing in this year's IPL.

#4 Piyush Chawla (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Piyush Chawla was retainedvia the RTM

The leggie has been a part of the KKR squad since 2014 and has been featuring in the playing eleven on a consistent basis in a team which comprises of some exceptional limited-overs spinners like Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav and Shakib-Al-Hasan ( though now he plays for SRH). In his 134 IPL games, he has already picked up 128 wickets with a satisfactory economy rate.

He didn't get an appreciable start to this year's IPL, turning out to be very expensive in his first two games but picked up two decisive wickets of Quinton de Kock and M.S. Dhoni in crucial junctures of the games. With 12 games coming up in the league stages of the tournament for KKR, he'll be a go-to leggie for his skipper.

#5 Mayank Markande (Mumbai Indians)

Mayank Markande had a sensational first game in 2018

The 20-year-old leggie represents Punjab in domestic cricket and he is playing for the Mumbai Indians in this year's IPL. He turned out to be unplayable in his IPL debut, picking up three important wickets against the Chennai Super Kings and turned the game on its head. He only conceded 23 runs in his quota of 4 overs and had turned out to be a bit of a surprise package to the opponent.

It looks as if he'll have a magnificent time in this year's IPL, and Rohit will rely on him to get some vital breakthroughs in the middle overs.

#6 Shreyas Gopal (Rajasthan Royals)

Shreyas Gopal relies on his googlies

The leggie from Karnataka will be representing the Rajasthan Royals this season. Till now he has played 8 IPL games and picked up 7 wickets at an acceptable economy rate of 7.71. He doesn't give the ball much air, and mostly relies on his googlies and the straighter ones to do the job in limited overs cricket.

He bowled quite well against the Sun Risers Hyderabad in the first game of this year's IPL and just conceded 17 in 3 overs in a game where the other bowlers from RR struggled to create any sort of impact.

#7 Yuzvendra Chahal (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

Yuzvendra Chahal has been Virat Kohli's go-to man

Chahal has been the leading leg-spinner for India for quite a while as far as limited overs cricket is concerned. He didn't have the best of times in his first match of this year's IPL against the KKR conceding 29 in his 3 overs and failed to strike even once.

In his 57 IPL matches, he has already picked up 70 wickets and his performance will be vital for RCB's success this season. He is someone who is not afraid of giving the ball some air and extract some turn and can strike at crucial junctures of the tournament.

#8 Rashid Khan (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

Rashid Khan is a T20 phenonemon

The mystery spinner from Afghanistan was unplayable in the IPL 2017 and was the key to SRH's success in the tournament. The 19-year-old has already picked up 18 wickets in 15 matches and has got an economy rate of 6.57.

He started off pretty well in this year's IPL, getting figures of 23 for one in his quota of 4 overs against the Rajasthan Royals, and gave his team a scintillating start to the tournament.

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