West Indies left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie.
Image: AFP
The Proteas may have confidently dealt with the threat India’s mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy posed in their opening ICC T20 World Cup Super Eights clash, but now West Indies’ Gudakesh Motie looms large in Thursday’s encounter at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Motie offers a unique angle and trajectory through his left-arm wrist spinners, and after working extensively with the Proteas highest T20 wicket-taker Tabraiz Shamsi on the recent tour of South Africa, has roared back into form.
The Guyana Amazon Warriors leggie had gone wicketless during the Afghanistan series last year, but hit back with a match-winning three-for in the 10-over shootout victory over the Proteas at the Wanderers ahead of the departure for the T20 World Cup.
He has transferred that form to India and Sri Lanka where he is the joint fifth highest wicket-taker, along with Chakravarthy, with 10 wickets at an average of 10.80 and economy of 7.27. Motie was particularly lethal against Zimbabwe on Monday evening when he claimed 4/28 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
The 29-year-old has been particularly effective against the left-handers, and will be eyeing the likes of Quinton de Kock, Ryan Rickleton and David Miller in the Proteas batting line-up.
“We tend to neglect how important time away from the game is. It gives you a nice chance to just refresh and regroup,” West Indies captain Shai Hope said.
“He got a little period before, I was thinking it was the New Zealand series and he went home, worked on some skills. He has used the time away from the game well and has brought something beneficial for us with the wrist spin.
“You can see he's back to where he was before. He even added something to his game as well, that wrist spinner has been very, very crucial for us, especially against the lefties. He's in a great space and I can say the same for everyone.”
And unlike Chakravarthy who had precious little support from off-spinner Washington Sundar, the Windies pose a double spin threat through Motie and Akeal Hosain.
The left-arm spinner has been his miserly self in the Powerplay throughout the T20 World Cup, but showed his striking ability with a double-wicket maiden over against Zimbabwe. Hosain finished with 3/28 as the Windies spin twins combined for 7/56.
Former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis, who captained Hosain at the Joburg Super Kings during the recent Betway SA20, believes the Proteas’ experience of facing the duo in the recent series in South Africa should come be beneficial though.
"I saw them in South Africa. And I have played a lot of cricket with and against both of them. Amazing spinners. If there's a little bit of something in the wicket, both of them [will exploit it]," du Plessis said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut programme.
"But the test will come now when they play against a lot of lefties in India, how're they going to respond to that, and South Africa played both of them really well in South Africa [in the T20I series in January this year]."