Will the wrist-spinners hold their own at 2019 World Cup?

There was a time during the 1990s and early 2000s when wrist-spinners weaved their magic across the world, foxing batsmen with their variations and subtleties. Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, Mushtaq Ahmed, Danish Kaneria, Paul Adams, Brad Hogg, Upul Chandana, Paul Strang -- all became household names at that time.
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Once these players called time on their careers, the number of wrist-spinners in international cricket gradually declined and the era of finger-spinners began.The time between the 2007 World Cup and 2017 Champions Trophy saw an upsurge in the number of finger-spinners in every international team, especially their limited-overs sides.
The focus of most captains at that time was to restrict opposition batsmen during the middle-overs — don’t give away easy runs, control the game by keeping things tight, and if a wicket came along, it was always welcome. The finger-spinners, whether left or right arm, were adept at this task. Flight, guile, deception — the three main weapons in a spinner’s armoury — were done away with and restrictive bowling took precedence.
Since a finger-spinner has better control, they were a captain’s delight and much easier to set fields to than a wrist spinner. It was their predictability that made them come into vogue.
But with the advent of T20 cricket, it was this very predictability that became their bane. The faster they bowled, the bigger the batsmen hit. Expected lines and lengths were smashed to expected corners of the ground, and these habits seeped into 50-over cricket as well.

After the 2015 World Cup, several teams were forced to revise their spin strategy. An increasing number of wrist-spinners were introduced in playing XIs with a simple mandate: take wickets. England, for example, completely overhauled their T20 and 50-over teams after the debacle in the 2015 Cup, in which they exited in the group stage. They brought in Adil Rashid, who turned out to be their main wicket-taker ODIs for the next four years. In fact, Rashid is the highest wicket-taker in ODIs since the last World Cup.
Interestingly, the list of top-five wicket-takers in ODIs after the 2015 World Cup includes two more wrist-spinners — Rashid Khan in second position and Imran Tahir at fifth. India’s young sensation Kuldeep Yadav is at sixth spot. All four — Adil Rashid (127 wickets), Rashid Khan (123), Imran Tahir (92) and Kuldeep Yadav (87) — have outshone the finger-spinner with the highest number of wickets since the previous World Cup, Mohammad Nabi (73).
What has worked for these wrist-spinners in the last four years? First, captains across teams have become more aggressive. They aren’t taking the defensive route anymore. They know containing batsmen in the slog overs isn’t going to be easy, so attacking during the middle overs — when the game generally meanders — seems the best way to go.
Australian spin legend Shane Warne, arguably the best wrist-spinner of the modern era, recently said, “Batsmen are nervous while facing wrist-spinners since they do not know which way the ball is turning. Most aren’t able to pick from the hand.”
Leg-spinner Anil Kumble, in a TV show during the 2019 IPL playoffs, said, “Wrist-spinners provide option and variety. There are so many deliveries one can bowl – the googly, the toppy (top-spinner), the flipper – besides the normal leg-break. The batsman is always second-guessing.”