Akeal Hosein: Taking the baton from Badree; passing it on to Motie

The left-arm spinners were expected to be the flavour of the 2024 T20 World Cup and Akeal Hosein has been among the ‘Specials of the Month.’

The left-arm finger spinner has been the lynchpin of West Indies’ so-far-so-good tournament. The co-hosts have won five out of their six matches as yet. Hosein has snapped nine wickets, averaging 12.2 runs apiece at an economy of 5. 

The southpaw has primarily made an impact in the powerplay, where he has bowled 17 of his 22 overs. He has consistently bowled three overs in the powerplay, starting the bowling for West Indies. Outside the powerplay, Hosein has bowled five overs in six matches, only used in one-over spells. 

As things stand, 11 spinners have picked five wickets or more in this competition. Hosein has the best economy rate and the third-best bowling average among this lot. The conditions have enabled Hosein to be impactful with the new ball, and to their credit, West Indies have used him perfectly well.

To begin with the conditions, it has been a bowler’s World Cup and spinners have been in play more than ever. Especially the left-arm spinners since a majority of the openers, or all batters, are right-handers, thus establishing a favourable match-up for the bowler in this case. 

In 2021, when the T20 World Cup was played in the Middle East, the pattern was: win the toss and win the game. Pacers were in play during the first innings, swinging the ball around. In the second innings, the dew neutralized the slower bowlers to a fair bit. Day matches still had the spinners making the ball talk. 

In the succeeding edition Down Under, the innate nature of the Australian tracks prompted the use of pacers. Things have been different in 2024. The spinners are in play throughout the innings. Going by the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) experience, the Windies’ management knew Hosein could be a weapon with the ball upfront. 

The numbers for slow left-arm spinners in powerplay this World Cup are par with the 2021 edition. However, Hosein has created a big difference. 

In addition, the 31-year-old has done a lot of bowling in the powerplay, be it for the West Indies (39.5% of his overs) or in the CPL (47.9% of his overs). In this World Cup, Gudakesh Motie’s presence in the side has permitted West Indies to scale it up to 77.3%.

Hosein has mastered the arm ball and the orthodox deliveries and has paired them with consistent channels to trouble the opposition's top order. Nearly 80% of his powerplay deliveries have been pitched in the good length region. 

While orthodox left-arm spin has been his secondary option for Hosein, the arm ball has been the primary choice, accounting for five of his six powerplay wickets. In fact, Hosein darts his arm balls into the right-hander by a big margin, almost like a hooping in-swinger. This way, he moves the ball in both directions. Imad Wasim, another specialist powerplay spinner, is the only other left-arm spinner who does that.

Look at this delivery to Finn Allen in Match 26 against New Zealand. Although coming in with the angle, the ball was miles outside the off stump almost halfway down the pitch. But by the time it reached Allen, it was almost in line with the top of the off stump. 

Screengrab Credits: Star Sports

On occasions, he has also dipped the ball. Rahmanullah Gurbaz lofted a full toss straight to the mid-on fielder off the bottom of his bat. Hosein has bowled only three full tosses in the powerplay, taking a wicket off one of them. .

Hence, Hosein has found ways to create doubt for the batters on line, length and movement. Even in the only game that West Indies lost, Hosein conceded only 19 runs in his three powerplay overs, a reasonable start given England were chasing 180-plus in that fixture. 

In each of the two successful campaigns for the Windies, they have had a spinner to dictate things in the beginning — Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine in 2012 and Badree in 2016. Badree played his last T20I in 2018. Hosein has taken over the role since T20 World Cups resumed in 2021. 

West Indies tanked in both 2021 and 2022 editions. Hosein averaged 30 at an economy of 6.7 as a powerplay spinner in 2021. In Australia, his role was cut down. 

This year, the left-arm spinner is setting the tone both as a wicket-taker and an economical bowler. Having an additional spinner in Gudakesh Motie has helped further. When the field spreads, Motie builds on Hosein’s work, flighting and turning the ball the conventional way. Unlike Hosein, Motie has focussed only on spinning the ball, bowling more than 80% of orthodox left-arm spin. 

"He's a very, very integral part, especially for controlling the powerplay for us, Right as we come out of the powerplay is Gudakesh Motie time. It's like Akeal Hosein passing the baton onto Gudakesh Motie, and it's been very good so far,” the West Indies skipper Rovman Powell spoke of the team plans. 

Hosein has bowled at an economy of 5 with a major number of overs upfront. Motie strangles the opposition in the middle overs, bowling at 6.5 runs over. Roston Chase has chipped in whenever required as an off-spinner. Thus, West Indies have a tight spin unit without a wrist spinner based on nailing match-ups. It is the home advantage that they are turning their way. 

However, the co-hosts haven’t qualified for the semi-final yet. Such is the format in this World Cup that the Windies, despite only one defeat, still need to win their final Super 8s match against South Africa. The same holds true for South Africa, too, who have won all six games thus far. 

West Indies will hope Hosein and Motie choke the opposition batters one more time. The conditions in North Sound, Antigua, have brought spinners into the picture. In addition, South Africa have a couple of right-handers out of form in their top three for Akeal Hosein to target once again. 

*all stats before Super 8, Match 9 (USA vs ENG)