Five Spinners We Would Have Liked To See More of in Tests

In Test cricket, spinners play a huge role in any team composition. They bowl the most overs in the day in comparison to fast bowlers. Also, in the Indian subcontinent, the pitches are such that winning a game is out of the question without spinners. Ask teams such as England and Australia how spinners have helped them win a series in the Asian continent.

Meanwhile, there are spinners across the world that played a lot lesser number of games than they could have. In the limited careers they had, some of them did alright while others made the fans feel like they could have achieved a lot more. In this listicle, we will discuss five spinners who might have played a lot more Tests than they actually did.

Five spinners that might have played a lot of Tests more than they did

Kuldeep Yadav (Image Credit: Twitter)

1. Kuldeep Yadav

The left-arm wrist spinner has played eight games since making his debut in 2017. In these games, he has 34 wickets to his name at an average of 21.55 including three five-wicket hauls. Given these numbers, one could easily say that he might have played a lot more. Not to forget, he has done well in white-ball formats and has been doing well across formats in recent times.   

Adil Rashid (Image Credit: Twitter)

2. Adil Rashid

His inclusion might divide the fans. Even though he started his Test career with a five-wicket haul against Pakistan in 2015. However, his consistency became an issue for the team.

Even though he played a huge role in clean-sweeping Sri Lanka in their backyard in late 2018, he failed to keep his side for a few reasons. One of them was his inability to land the ball at the same line and length which is important for a bowler in Tests. 

Steve O'Keefe (Image Credit: Twitter)

3. Steve O'Keefe

Former Australia left-arm spinner had a great record while playing First Class cricket. Despite playing on one of the most responsive wickets for finger spinners, he has 301 wickets in 88 games averaging 24.66 including 13 five-wicket hauls.

On the other hand, his Test record isn't bad either. After playing only nine Tests between 2014 to 2017, the left-arm spinner has 35 wickets averaging 29.40. Indian fans might remember his impact during the 2017 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. 

Stuart MacGill (Image Credit: Twitter)

4. Stuart MacGill

The former Australia leggie can be considered unlucky when he played the game. After all, his career was overshadowed by Late Shane Warne, who happens to be the all-time second-highest wicket-taker in Tests. Meanwhile, MacGill didn't do badly in his limited opportunities.

After playing 44 Tests, he has 2018 wickets averaging 29.02 including 12 five-wicket hauls and two 10-wicket hauls. However, with Shane Warne being the leading spinner and Australia playing only one spinner at home, Stuart didn't get to play for Australia enough. 

AB de Villiers, Ajantha Mendis (Image Credit: Twitter)

5. Ajantha Mendis

The Indian fans might easily remember Ajantha Mendis from the Asia Cup 2008 final. Ahead of the game, no Indian player had played the risen spinner at the time. This was evident as he picked six wickets for almost nothing in the game.

However, as years went by, the opposition batters started reading him out. From being one of the most deadly spinners, Mendis became one of the easily dealt with slow bowlers as other batters started playing him with ease and command. During his career, he has played 19 Tests, 87 ODIs, and 39 T20Is.