Can you use more spinners in your Twenty20 games?

The statistics are on your side. Recently Nasser Hussain observed, that 9 of the top 10 bowlers in international T20 are spinners. He then asked that if spinners are the best bowlers in this format of the game, then why don't we always pick at least two of them as a matter of course, or maybe even three?

Before I decide that for my teams, there are a couple of questions I want to ask.

This article is part of the "Streetwise Bowling" series from PitchVision Academy. To view the full list of tactics click here.

Pressure.

That's what makes death bowling so difficult. Any fool can fire a yorker down in a net. Very few can do it in a World Cup Final. And the punishments are severe.

Here's a fun drill that can teach players about hitting at the death of an innings. Perfect timing for the World T20, where batsmen will be in the death from almost the first ball.

Being a good Twenty20 cricketer is exactly the same as being a good cricketer. So save yourself the trouble of working out how to adapt and focus on your short-format skill development.

Quite the claim?

Let's look at the facts.

Take out the shortened time and all the basic elements of success in Twenty20 cricket are usable in any format. However if you flip it around and try to play 5 day cricket style sped up, you fall down. So start with Twenty20.

Here are some more specifics for your skill set:

The IPL seems a long way from the cricket we play. But it is the same game with the same size pitch, balls and stumps.

It's just the players are a bit better.

So there is bound to be lessons guys like Dhoni, Malinga, Pollard and Morkel can teach us. Even if we may never play at Eden Gardens in front of 60,000.

Here are 5 universal things that I think we can take into our next game, be it a friendly or a vital final:

In the 2012 IPL, something quiet happened that may be the start of a revolution in cricket: A revolution that will see many aspiring youngsters become cricketers via a completely different route to the old ways.

S Thiyagarajan is not a household name. A second division club cricketer in Chennai who never played first-class cricket.

He also won an IPL contract for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2012 via trials.

"You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup" - Bruce Lee.

If there is one thing you cannot accuse of the IPL, or any form of Twenty20 cricket for that matter, it's of the quiet calmness of a cup of water.

Bouncers fly past noses, stumps get destroyed, sixes get bludgeoned and the crowds go berserk (except when Sachin gets out).

It's noisy chaos.

Which is why the secret to success in this format is to be able to filter out all that noise and, as Bruce Lee said, become the cup.

If I was to ask you what you picture when you think of "swing bowling" what would you tell me?

Zaheer Khan and Chaminda Vaas bowling in World Cups?

Kapil Dev, Malcolm Marshall and Richard Hadlee bending the red ball round corners?

Perhaps you go back further to names like Barnes and Lindwall, where their length was as impeccable as the crease in their trousers.

But in Twenty20 a length ball is smashed over midwicket.

So swing bowling is dying.

In Twenty20 the wicketkeeper is often considered to be a batsman who keeps his pads on while fielding. A stopper not a show stopper.

But in IPL 6, Dishant Yagnik showed the value of an athlete and technician as keeper.

Yagnik spent a lot of time standing back to the quick men. That is a skill that requires good hands and athletic movement. In match 8 for Rajasthan against KKR he showed these skills to dismiss the danger man Gambhir.

Gambhir had walked down the wicket to force the pace, slashed at a wide ball outside off stump that flew at height to Yagnik's left.

Pune Warriors had two awful IPL seasons, finishing second last in 2011 then topping it with the wooden spoon in 2012.

There has been much discussion in Pune around the reasons (and excuses), but whatever the details, there are a few principles you can pick up for your own team.

Here's how to make sure you don't emulate Pune Warriors double IPL failure.