Former Team India cricketer Piyush Chawla rated some of the all-time best batters in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in terms of their ability to face spinners. In a quick conversation with ESPNcricinfo, Chawla surprisingly picked Gautam Gambhir, a former Team India opener and currently head coach of the national team, as the best batter against spinners.
Chawla's prediction came amid the ongoing 2026 season of the league. In the short conversation, there were proven batters like Andre Russell, Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli, David Warner, MS Dhoni, AB de Villiers, Jos Buttler, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Chris Gayle, Gambhir, and Shikhar Dhawan.
Andre Russell against spinners: 6/10
Suryakumar Yadav: 9/10
Virat Kohli: 9/10
David Warner: 9/10
MS Dhoni: 7/10
AB de Villiers: 7/10
Jos Buttler: 7/10
Glenn Maxwell: 6/10
Shaun Marsh: 9/10
Kieorn Pollard: 5/10
Hardik Pandya: 9/10
Rohit Sharma: 9/10
Chris Gayle: 9/10
Gautam Gambhir: 10/10
Shikhar Dhawan: 9/10
According to Chawla, Gautam Gambhir was the best batter in his time who used to play against the spinners precisely. Among the other Indian batters, the former spinner rated 9 out of 10 for Shikhar, Rohit, Hardik, Virat, and Suryakumar. Though Chawla gave the former India captain MS Dhoni only 7 out of 10.
Gautam Gambhir - the best player of legspin according to Piyush Chawla❗ pic.twitter.com/9jEK4U7FIb
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) April 2, 2026
Gautam Gambhir's record against the spinners
According to stats, Gautam faced 2,363 balls from the spinners and scored 1,321 runs in the Tests for an average of 52.8. In 60 innings, the left-handed batter was dismissed 25 times.
In the T20s, he played for the Delhi Daredevils (Now Delhi Capitals), and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). From 2008 to 2018, Gautam Gambhir played 1,183 balls against the spinners in this particular format to score 1,534, averaging 38.4, and with a strike rate of 129.7.
If we talk about the One Day International format, the batter's batting average against the spinners was 53.4. The former opener scored 1,601 runs against the spin bowlers, facing 1,793 balls.
In the longer formats, Gambhir's overall batting average was over 50, which is definitely pretty good, and supports Piyush Chawla's rating as well.
Pollard's batting stats vs spinners
In the list of ratings, former West Indies all-rounder and a legend of the Mumbai Indians franchise, Kieron Pollard received only 5 points from the former Indian spinner. Chawla felt that Pollard's batting against spinners was not up to the mark.
Pollard was a journeyman in the T20 format as he played for multiple teams and franchises across the globe. But his batting stats against the spinners look slightly different from Gautam Gambhir's T20 stats against the spinners.
Pollard played 2,548 spin balls and scored 3,767 runs with a strike rate of 147.8. In the shortest format of the game, the former Caribbean batters' batting average against spinners was 37.7.
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