Cricket Special Edition: “Doosra” – The Other One
Pakistani bowlers have had the privilege of pioneering a few bowling techniques in the world of cricket. These include reverse swing introduced by Safraz Nawaz and the
“doosra” – a bowling technique invented by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Saqlain-Mushtaq-c88743, who also formulated another technique of spin bowling called the
“teesra”, which is an Urdu word meaning “the third one”.
Doosra has been one fascinating piece of delivery that has intrigued the cricket lovers for nearly a decade now. It is being adopted by many spin bowlers of today.
Doosra is an Urdu word, whose literal meaning is “the other one” while in cricket terminology, it refers to a particular type of delivery bowled by an off-spin bowler where he delivers the ball with the same finger action as a normal off-break but
places the wrist in such a direction that the back of the hand faces the batsman. This ends up giving the ball spin in the opposite direction of the off break. So, what it essentially does is that it makes the ball spin from the leg-side to the off-side to
a batsman – a right handed batsman.
This type of delivery is quite similar to a normal off-break but instead of spinning towards the bat it goes the other way, more like a leg break. It is bowled with a lot of top spin when delivered from the back of the hand. The placement of wrist is essential
in this delivery as the wrist still moves in a clockwise direction and this is what baffles the batsmen. Come to think of it,
doosra is basically the same as a leg-spinner’s ‘googly’ that tends to spin in the opposite direction to the leg spinner’s regular ball.
There are many spin bowlers who followed the footsteps of Saqlain Mushtaq and experimented with the
doosra. They have been quite successful at it too. Some of them include Muralitharan of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755. However, many of these
doosra bowlers have faced allegations of simply ‘throwing the ball’. It might seem rather odd as to why Saqlain’s
doosra was never questioned but those who followed the exact delivery style are seen with suspicion.
Saqlain’s invention of doosra has had some long-lasting repercussions. Not only did it prove to be fruitful for Saqlain’s career but also introduced an all-new genre of spin bowling, which has made the future of spin bowling much brighter. Meanwhile,
it is interesting to note how doosra was discovered by the cricket fans. Although, Saqlain and other players in the Pakistan team already had a fair idea of the delivery but apart from them, it was probably first heard by Tony Greig, a renowned commentator,
when Moin http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khan-c71319 used to shout out loud to Mushtaq to bowl the doosra and his call would be heard.
Tony, eventually, ended up linking the word to the delivery while also confirming it with Saqlain during one of the post-match interviews. Since then, this term has become a part of cricket and
doosra is now an important component of off-spin. Moreover, teesra was the new variant Saqlain invented in 2004. In this particular delivery, a top spinner is disguised as an off-spin delivery. “Bowling the
doosra is not as easy as it looks on one’s television screens, it is a quite difficult skill to learn. One needs plenty of practice to master it,” said Saqlain when asked about the
doosra.
Even though Saqlain is criticized for attempting too many variations, his ODI career has been phenomenal where he has taken 288 wickets and is also the fastest bowler to have reached the 100 ODI wickets mark. He owes most of his wickets to the magic of
doosra.
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