Welcome to Spin Bowling
Off Break Bowling : This delivery is bowled by an Off Spinner. Seam is held across the fingers and the fingers are used to deliver/impart spin by rolling them in clock wise direction at the time of delivery. Its easier for right hand batsmen to pick Off Break Bowling from the bowlers hand and maneuver the delivery, it becomes potent only when mixed with arm delivery. Captains would get better success when they bring on a off break bowler when a left hander comes to the crease as the ball tends to pitch and leave away from the left hander. Quality off break bowlers vary flight, length, spin and bounce to induce the edge from the left handers to the slip region. Key Exponents Past: Erapalli Prasanna, Srinivasan Venkatraghavan. Present: Muralitharan, Harbhajan.
Doosra: Off spinners wrong un. Ball pitches and leaves a right hander similar to a leg break. Ball held between the thumb and index finger and released from the back of hand with an anticlockwise rip at the time of delivery. Key Exponent: Saqlain Mushtaq, Muralitharan, Harbhajan.
Leg Break: This delivery is bowled by Leg Spinners by imparting wrist spin to the delivery. Seam is held across and an anticlockwise rotation is imparted at the time of delivery with a ripping action. Good leg spinners draw the top order batsmen out of their crease and deceive the batsmen by their flight inducing them to either play a false shot and get caught in the deep mid off, long off region or miss completely to be stumped by the keeper. Tail enders especially play a defensive shot to a leg break bowler and get caught in the slips as they are unable to judge the flight and the spin correctly. Key Exponent: Shane Warne, Anil Kumble. Past : Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Abdul Qadir, Bhagwat Chandrashekar. Following the ball of the century, Gatting bowled by Warne on a ball pitching outside leg and turning prodigiously to take of his off stump leaving the batsmen bewildered, many bowlers have tried to emulate this feat but have had little success.
Flipper: Important stock delivery in a leg spinners armour. The batsmen plays for a delivery expecting it to pitch short of good length (at pullable length) but is deceived in the trajectory and is mostly out leg before at the ball keeps low after pitching much further up. Bowled by holding the ball between the thumb, first and middle finger with ball delivered from under the palm with a clockwise action. Further the ball slows down after pitching making the batsmen get into the shot much earlier mostly an on drive or sweep and missing the delivery completely. Key Exponents: Anil Kumble. Shane Warne. One give away is the clicking sound at the time of delivery from the bowlers hand. Many batsmen fail to pick this delivery from the bowlers hand much to their peril, Tendulkar reads the Flipper better than any batsman.
Top Spinner: Bowled by Leg Spinners. Flipper has a tendency to keep low after pitching whereas Top Spinner bounces high taking the batsmen by surprise and inducing at edge. Chances of Leg before are minimal. Not much spin/ turn is imparted by the delivery after pitching. Ball is held between the thumb and middle finger with fingers positioned across the seam and top phalanges of the finger holding the ball, an anticlockwise rotation is delivered by the fingers holding the ball at the time of delivery with the back of hand facing the sky. Especially lethal on later stages of a match wherein cracks develop on the pitch and this delivery bowled at that stage induces doubt in the batsmen's mind making it difficult to play when bowled at say Kumble's pace. Key Exponent: Anil Kumble.
Googly: The Wrong un. An off break bowled by a leg spinner. Key arsenal in a leg spinner's arsenal. This delivery is bowled back of hand with the palms facing down and the thumb and third finger hold the ball across the seam facing the sky, a clockwise spin is imparted at the time of delivery. The key is to use this delivery as a surprise delivery, mix it with top spinners, leg breaks and not to overuse it. Further the line should be between around off stump to induce false shot from the batsman. Mostly batsmen are eight bowled, leg before or caught at forward short leg on missing this delivery. Good top order batsmen pick the Googly easily from the hand, tail enders are more susceptible to this delivery. When the flight and speed are varied this delivery becomes more potent.
Slider: This bowl is used by the Leg Spinners to back foot players who are more susceptible to get yorked. The ball is bowled more full and bounces low and moves straight after pitching. Bowled with the thumb and the fourth finger, fingers across the seam imparting sufficient backspin. Zooter is similar delivery bowled back of hand, pioneered by Shane Warne.
Left Arm Orthodox: As the name suggests this delivery is bowled by Left Armer around the wicket. Its more of a finger spinning delivery with the thumb, index and middle finger spread across the seam with the palm facing the batsmen at the time of delivery. The spin is imparted by giving an anticlockwise turn to the delivery. The delivery turns away from the right hander after pitching. The batsmen mainly get deceived due to variation in the flight and the amount of turn imparted.
Arm Ball: Bowled by Left Arm Orthodox Bowler, this wicket taking delivery is similar to a leg spinner's flipper. Ball travels straight after pitching, at faster pace. When mixed well with left arm stock away going delivery it creates sufficient doubt in the batsmen's mind generating a false stroke, batsmen getting out either Leg before or caught at forward short leg expecting an away going delivery. Key Exponents: Daniel Vettori, Bishen Singh Bedi, Maninder Singh.
Left Arm Unorthodox : Chinaman : Bowled left arm unorthodox this delivery moves into the right hander after pitching, bowled round the wicket. As the spin is imparted by the wrists more spin, turn and bounce is generated when compared to finger spinning delivery. Mostly the batsmen are out leg before or caught at forward short leg by this delivery. Key Exponent: Allan Border, Paul Adams.
Carrom Ball: Popularized by Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka. The ball is held between the thumb and the middle finger and the palm faces the batsman at the time of delivery. Turning the wrist clockwise at the time of delivery make the ball come in to a right hander and vice versa. Sufficient control is required for proper release of the delivery from this grip position.
