As IPL auctions set to be held on December 19 come knocking, spinners who can rule the roost in conducive conditions, particularly leggies, will be hot sells.

When T20 cricket first began, many were of the opinion that spinners would gradually die out of the game as they run the risk of leaking runs. However, the tweakers reinvented themselves and continue to rival pace bowlers for spots.

While India are fortunate to have several domestic spin options, there are a few overseas spinners as well who will find a lot of takers in the upcoming auctions.

Here are the five spinners to look out for in the IPL 2020 auctions.

Tabraiz Shamsi

Tabraiz Shamsi is currently trying to fill the shoes of Imran Tahir, who has decided to walk away from Tests and ODIs, with him still available for the T20 format. Shamsi is currently playing second fiddle to him. However, at some point, the South African team will hope that he graduates as their frontline spinner.

Being a left-arm wrist spinner provides him an edge as per variety. Shamsi has begun to show signs of stepping up his game. He recently ended as the second-highest wicket-taker in the Mzansi Super League with 16 wickets from just 10 matches.

Piyush Chawla

Piyush Chawla has been with Kolkata Knight Riders for the longest time. In fact, he was instrumental in Kolkata's title win in 2014 and is remembered for hitting the winning runs. Chawla is one of the few bowlers in IPL to have picked up 150 wickets. He was retained by the franchise for Rs 4.32 crores in the last season but has been released this time around.

Chawla played a handful of matches in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy and did a decent job, the highlights being figures of 3-4 against Sikkim, 3-9 against Odisha and 2-19 against J & K.

Chawla played his maiden first-class game back in 2005. The fact that he started quite young, he is still just 30 years of age and has a few years of cricket left in him. His guile and wit along with his control can see him contribute to the success of any franchise.

Varun Chakravarthy

Varun Chakravarthy took a liking to cricket in his childhood but then distanced himself from the game. At 25, he pursued his passion yet again and soon was bowling for Madurai Panthers in Tamil Nadu Premier League. His performances in the competition put him on the radar of IPL teams and he was picked for a whopping amount of 8.40 crore last year.

He played only one match for KXIP in the season which was against KKR and returned with figures of 1-35. The spinner also picked up an injury after which he could not play any further in the tournament. His mystery spin and ability to bowl in the powerplay and at the death invite the interest of franchises in the auction.

Ish Sodhi

Being a leg spinner is an advantage in T20Is and few understand it better than Ish Sodhi. The spinner is currently on a bit of a decline in his career but had climbed to the top of the T20I rankings in January 2018. Sodhi's rise in international cricket somewhat coincided with the ICC World T20 2016 when he ended as the third-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 10 wickets from just 5 matches.

Sodhi has not got a lot of opportunities in the IPL with a total of 8 matches in the last two seasons in which he has picked up 9 wickets. The leg spinner did well for his franchise in the Global T20 Canada League and can be another good option for the franchises.

Deepak Hooda 

From quite early on, it became clear that there was no dearth of promise when it came to Deepak Hooda. He made his IPL debut in 2014 and impressed straight away with a couple of hard-hitting knocks in the lower order, along with his gentle off spinners. This is the reason why he went for Rs 4.2 crores in IPL 2016 - a pretty hefty amount for the player of his (in)experience.

Sunrisers Hyderabad showed their faith in him for a long time but when the performances did not come for a couple of years, their patience ran out and the team released him this year.

Apart from his 228 runs from 10 matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Hooda also chanced his arm and did a decent job. Hence, teams looking for a spinning all-rounder will have him as an option.

©Cricket World 2019