The slow, low and turning pitches of the subcontinent hyped this World Cup as one to be dominated by the spinners. Especially the subcontinent sides' favouritism for spin and the seeming discomfort of non-Asian sides made it all the more plausible to bet on the spinners.
However, the reality has turned out to be very different. So far the bowling has been dominated by the fast bowlers, so much so that only one spinner (Shahid Afridi) features amongst the top ten wicket takers till date.
Abdur Razzak, himself a left-arm spinner and the highest wicket-taker for Bangladesh in one-day cricket, was surprised to see the outcome.
"Well, I thought the wickets would be conducive to spin. But they turned out to be sporting wickets favouring the batsmen instead. Maybe it has got something to do with the weather," sighed the 28-year-old spinner as he faced media before a practice session of Bangladesh.
"But that is a challenge and it means you can't take anything for granted. You have to adapt to different conditions to thrive."
One doesn't have to look any farther than the Tigers' own performance to see the level of struggle the spinners have had to do so far. The two frontline spinners have managed only four wickets in the first two matches. Razzak, who claimed 13 wickets in the last World Cup, went wicketless for 74 runs against India and claimed just a single wicket in the next match against Ireland.
But the veteran of 113 matches believes that he bowled reasonably well in the first two matches.
"I think I did not bowl all that bad in the first match as the figures would suggest, but did a good job in the second."
To be fair, Razzak has a point here. He was called upon to bowl in the fifth over against India, and amidst the Sehwag-Sachin onslaught, operated reasonably well conceding 20 runs in his first spell of 4 overs. It was the later spells that made him look flat in the end.
In the next match he opened the bowling and chipped in with a wicket in his first four overs conceding 15 runs.
Though he ended up with just the one wicket, he conceded at a meagre rate of 3.75 runs per over. The wily spinner believes that bowling well and bowling tidy are the most important thing, even if it means compromising a wicket or two.
"There are times when you bowl well without taking a wicket. Taking wicket is not the most important thing. If I can bowl well and still end up wicketless, I am prepared to take that."
But the orthodox spinner knows containing Chris Gayle and Devon Smith will not be an easy job, let alone getting them out early; not only because of the reputation of the batsmen but also due to the fact that they both are left-handers and left-handers normally find it easier dealing with left-arm spin than right-arm. Nonetheless Razzak feels he is up to the task.
"The left-handers are a little bit difficult bowling against for the left-arm spinners. But I believe if we can bowl good line and length we can be successful against any batsman. If I am given the ball first up, it would be a challenge which I am prepared to take."
