it’s not often I open a thead in KK-1, but this man deserves one
He is just a genius. Honestly, 7/8 years back I thought that off-spinners were the weakest of bowlers; especially with Warne around, I wud often say that spinners who cannot bowl leg-spin turn into off-spinners.
But Muttiah Muralitharan has redefined off-spinners. His perfection of the doosra should be considered a world wonder. I’ve seen some doosray spin more than Shane Warne’s conventional leg-spinner.
It was funny to hear during the second test v England, the commentators talking about the name doosra and what it possibly could mean: why was the conventional ball called off-spinners, and the other one the doosra
Looking forward to the day when he takes his 1000th test wicket.
It was funny to hear during the second test v England, the commentators talking about the name doosra and what it possibly could mean: why was the conventional ball called off-spinners, and the other one the doosra :D
To note, the doosra was invented by Pakistan's own Saqlain Mushtaq back in his heyday in the mid 1990's and this trick was passed down on generations upon generations. The name itself came about when Moin used to shout doosra from behind the stumps to Saqlain just before the delivery was about to be bowled while the batsman at the other end had no clue on how much of a spin the next ball will be magically worked upon, effectively beating the bat on a number of ocassions and even resulting in a stumping chance. Hence, ever since then, the term doosra came into existence.
Muralitharan (and others) have perfected this art, completely agree.
the same commentators were also saying that in a recent under 19 tournament in the subcontinent (?) 17 players were reported for suspected bowling actions, because everyone wanted to bowl the doosra
A question.. how do one bowl a doosra. I can ball off spin and leg spin with much lesser controll but both times I have to hold the ball differently. For offspin i hold it btw the fingers and turn it clockwise and for legspin i hold it in the palm and turn it anti clock wise. So how do one bowl a doosra with an offspin action. To turn it anticlockwise you should require a real strength in ur fingers .
^the trick is to position your wrist in such a way that the same movement of the fingers, used for offspin, makes the ball rotate as if a legspinner.
Problem is, us mortals don't have such flexibel wrist, so in order to obtain the desired rotation of the ball as a legspinning off-break we need to bend our elbow. Therefore, if we would bowl a doosra, we could be chucking, becuase the only way we can bowl it is by chucking: bend your elbow between 45 and 90 degrees and bend your wrist 90 degrees inwards and your off-break will come out as a leg-break.
Murali, the genius, has a special wrist, in that it can bend it two places: so therefore bowling the doosra for him is quite easy.....and he can bowl it without chucking
Murli is one of the greatest off spinners if not the best ever produced in Cricketing arena. Dhobi jee, you remember the history very well and infact, it was our good ole Saqlain who started the Doosra delivery.
If you can recall, David Lloyd and Matthew Hoggard used the term a number of times in the last npower test in 2001 @ Old Trafford when nothing but Pak flags were rolling upon the stadium.
But Murli definitely is utilizing it really well and he has given "perfection" to the doosra. Anyhow, Congratz to the SL team and esp. Murli for single handedly turning the game away from England. You know, I'm really optimistic that Kaneria would inshAllah be a hard chocolate to be swalloed by the Englishmen.
Please dont use Saqlain and Murali in on sentence. One is chucker and other is a classy bowler who reinvented art of off spin bolwing with his doosra. Saqi was one spinner who made life of Indian bastmen miserable in India. This is a big testimony to his talent.No other spinner did it the way he did. Unfortunatley world could not see more of him.
with all due respect to saqlain mushtaq and his innovative brilliance, i think it's absurd to imply that he is (or rather 'was') a superior bowler to murali.
i agree that saqlain is the one who started the doosra, but you have to give credit where its due- and in this case, it goes to murali for perfecting the art.
it's kind of like comparing the dunk in basketball. dr j (i.e. julius erving) started dunking in the late 70s, but michael jordan and dominique wilkins (and in more recent times vince carter and kobe bryant) perfected the artform.
murali has been cleared on numerous occasions for chucking. the dude has the most flexible wrist in cricket and that's why it gives the illusion that he's chucking.
and yeah, i really hope danish kaneria does well in england. he has so much potential.
Giving all respect and due credit to Saqlain I think Murli is class of his own. More than 600 wickets require one to be above average and a genius. He is indeed one of the greatest bowlers cricket has seen.
