Foresee spinners having big impact in T20 World Cup: Samuel Badree

Former West Indies bowler Samuel Badree feels the slow nature of wickets in UAE will help spinners in the ICC men's T20 World Cup 2021 which gets underway from Sunday.

"Because of the heat factor and the dry nature of the surfaces, you always expect spinners to do well. The slow nature of the pitches also helps with that," said Badree in an ICC release.

"Spinners will do particularly well in Dubai, as well as in Sharjah, which give you more of an opportunity. They will prosper less in Abu Dhabi because in my memory there is a lot of grass on the pitch there.

Badree has also backed India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and South Africa spinner Tabraiz Shamsi to have a good tournament as spin has always played an important role in T20 cricket.

"When it comes to the best spinner at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, it's hard to look past Tabraiz Shamsi. The South African is ranked No.1 in the ICC Men's T20I Player Rankings for a reason and as a left-armer, he poses a significant challenge for batters," said Badree.

"Left-arm wrist spinners are rare in international cricket - he's very consistent, can turn the ball both ways and has tremendous control.

"I see him playing a major role for his team with the ball - he has the ability to bowl in different phases of the game, too, which is important," he added.

"In terms of other spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin is of course there for India. He has that experience; he's played for quite a long time now," Badree said.

The former West Indies cricketer also said the spin department is the one area he is worried about when it comes to Kieron Pollard-led side as the team lacks experience and the batsmen might have to compensate for it by scoring more than 200 runs.

"If there's one area of the West Indies team that I'm worried about, it's the spin department. It's an area of shortcoming for them. They have the one frontline spinner, Hayden Walsh, who had an exceptional home series quite recently. He didn't have a good Caribbean Premier League and going into this tournament, his form is not the best and his confidence might not be the best," said Badree.

"He is quality enough to do well in the tournament, but outside of him, there aren't any out-and-out spinners. Being able to take wickets throughout the innings is so important.

"If the power hitters like Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle and Andre Russell can get the team to over 200 runs consistently, that area of deficit can be ignored. But if we don't score those type of runs, the bowling will be found out and the spin bowling in particular," he added.

Badree, who last played for West Indies in 2018, pointed out that spin was a big strength of the side when they won the T20 World Cup in 2012 and 2016.

"Spin was a big strength of ours when we won the tournament in 2012 and 2016. We had Sunil Narine, Sulieman Benn and myself who could all use the new ball in any game," said Badree.

"Spin is always important and has an integral role in T20 cricket - we've seen that in previous editions of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

"It's being played in the UAE and Oman, where we have traditionally come to expect slow conditions. I foresee spinners having a big impact in this tournament," he signed off.