Bowling a doosra

[danish]

First of all, I hope that this thread does not become a 'doosra is illegal/murali is a chucker' affair. Being an offspinner, being able to bowl a doosra gives an attacking edge to a defensive bowler. If anyone knows the technique to bowling one, please post it here.

 

[age_master]

without chucking there isn't an easy one

Dan Cullen apparently can bowl one - but he spent a number of years developing it - and very slowly so he doesn't chuck it (i haven't seen it but apparently he doesn't). It wouldn't turn as much Murali's but it would still go slightly the other way.

 

[benchmark00]

I think its more of a ball for wristy off spinners, such as murali.

To bowl one as a finger spinner, i guess itd involve using the ring finger opposed to the index.

 

[Jamee999]

Run in and chuc*loud noise obscures the sound* it.

 

[Langeveldt]

I suggest you get my granny to teach you the javelin

 

[mdunn27]

Its not an easy ball, but the way I bowl it (not very accurately, but it does turn) is release the ball with the back of my hand facing the batsman so that my index finger is pulling down the left side of the ball. Very difficult as it will come out much slower

 

[danish]

Its not an easy ball, but the way I bowl it (not very accurately, but it does turn) is release the ball with the back of my hand facing the batsman so that my index finger is pulling down the left side of the ball. Very difficult as it will come out much slower

What do you mean pulling down the left side of the ball? How do you hold the ball?

 

[Jamee999]

In his hand.

 

[Autobahn]

Saqlain Mushtaq invented and bowls the doorsa often yet i don't recall him being particularly wristy or having any mumurings about his action either.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Its not an easy ball, but the way I bowl it (not very accurately, but it does turn) is release the ball with the back of my hand facing the batsman so that my index finger is pulling down the left side of the ball. Very difficult as it will come out much slower

That's not a doosra, it's a leg-break! A doosra is bowled with an offspinner's action i.e. with the fingers. What you've just described is legspin but with a different finger used to impart the spin.

The action for a doosra involves ****ing the wrist forwards and rolling the fingers over the top of the ball, but with the wrist pointing towards the right-hander's off-side, meaning the fingers rip over the ball in the opposite direction to an off-break. It is extremely difficult to bowl with only two fingers, most people use three, like a leg-break but with the wrist ****ed the other way. You also have to be able to bend your wrist a ridiculous amount to be able to do it, and you have to have very long fingers.

 

[Autobahn]

That's not a doosra, it's a leg-break! A doosra is bowled with an offspinner's action i.e. with the fingers. What you've just described is legspin but with a different finger used to impart the spin.

The action for a doosra involves ****ing the wrist forwards and rolling the fingers over the top of the ball, but with the wrist pointing towards the right-hander's off-side, meaning the fingers rip over the ball in the opposite direction to an off-break. It is extremely difficult to bowl with only two fingers, most people use three, like a leg-break but with the wrist ****ed the other way. You also have to be able to bend your wrist a ridiculous amount to be able to do it, and you have to have very long fingers.

Is there really any point in bowling a doorsa instead of a leg-break if you're an off-spinner?

I mean as long as you can disguise your action does a doorsa give you any more of an advantage?

 

[Barney Rubble]

Is there really any point in bowling a doorsa instead of a leg-break if you're an off-spinner?

I mean as long as you can disguise your action does a doorsa give you any more of an advantage?

The flight of a doosra is usually almost exactly the same as an off-break, whereas a leg-break is different - and the point of a doosra is it's impossible to conceal a legspinner's action as an offspinner's, they're totally different. A capable batsman can pick the difference between offspin and legspin before the bowler even enters his delivery stride.

 

[danish]

That's not a doosra, it's a leg-break! A doosra is bowled with an offspinner's action i.e. with the fingers. What you've just described is legspin but with a different finger used to impart the spin.

The action for a doosra involves ****ing the wrist forwards and rolling the fingers over the top of the ball, but with the wrist pointing towards the right-hander's off-side, meaning the fingers rip over the ball in the opposite direction to an off-break. It is extremely difficult to bowl with only two fingers, most people use three, like a leg-break but with the wrist ****ed the other way. You also have to be able to bend your wrist a ridiculous amount to be able to do it, and you have to have very long fingers.

So in other words, you start off with the ball facing the legside and the back of the hand facing the offside and you rotate the hand anticlockwise which puts anticlockwise revolutions on the ball. Damn, I need to painlessly dislocate my wrist somehow.
Thanks for the explanation anyway, it was much better than Halsey's. At least I know how to bowl a doosra now.

 

[Autobahn]

So in other words, you start off with the ball facing the legside and the back of the hand facing the offside and you rotate the hand anticlockwise which puts anticlockwise revolutions on the ball. Damn, I need to painlessly dislocate my wrist somehow.
Thanks for the explanation anyway, it was much better than Halsey's. At least I know how to bowl a doosra now.

Ah yes, but the crux of the biscuit is can you do that without running people out as opposed to bowling them?

 

[Barney Rubble]

So in other words, you start off with the ball facing the legside and the back of the hand facing the offside and you rotate the hand anticlockwise which puts anticlockwise revolutions on the ball. Damn, I need to painlessly dislocate my wrist somehow.
Thanks for the explanation anyway, it was much better than Halsey's. At least I know how to bowl a doosra now.

No, I didn't explain it right. The wrist rolls over the right-hand side of the ball, rather than the left - depending on the length of your fingers you might need to **** it quite a bit, or if you've got long fingers you might be able to get round the other side of the ball to give it a rip with a fairly straight wrist. Basically it's an offspinner's action, but with the hand round the other way - that's why so few people can bowl it, because it is physically extremely unnatural.

EDIT: at the swear filter.

 

[steds]

depending on the length of your fingers you might need to **** it quite a bit

 

[Richard]

Saqlain Mushtaq invented and bowls the doorsa often yet i don't recall him being particularly wristy or having any mumurings about his action either.

Simple fact is, I don't know why Murali calls his ball a Doosra.
The Doosra in all forms bar Murali's is a fingerspinner's ball. Most evidence suggests Eripalli Prasanna was the first to bowl it, but Saqlain and Harbhajan were the first to make it big news, and it was Saqlain who caused it to be called "the Doosra" (meaning "second" or "other one" in Urdu).
Now it seems many young fingerspinners are trying to perfect it. Alex Loudon is the first Englishman to try. Botha - who is a chucker on Doosra or off-break - is the first South African.
Basic fact, is the Doosra is an incredibly difficult ball to bowl - but for the commoner both of Murali's deliveries are impossible to bowl, because Murali has a double-jointed wrist and that's an incredibly rare gift. If anyone else (ie anyone with a usual wrist) tried bowling either his off-break-to-the-right-hander or his wrong-'un they'd not get much response. It seemed Tariq Mahmood had perfected the art, which means he too must have a double-jointed wrist, but I've not heard of him at all since the last U19 World Cup.

 

[honestbharani]

without chucking there isn't an easy one

Dan Cullen apparently can bowl one - but he spent a number of years developing it - and very slowly so he doesn't chuck it (i haven't seen it but apparently he doesn't). It wouldn't turn as much Murali's but it would still go slightly the other way.

Chucking upto 15 degrees is legal. And there is no way to bowl MOST deliveries without chucking. These things are proven.

 

[Richard]

Well - and as such bending the arm is only chucking once you bend it more than 15 degrees.
Don't even get me started on how ridiculous that rule is.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Tariq Mahmood had perfected the art, which means he too must have a double-jointed wrist, but I've not heard of him at all since the last U19 World Cup.

If Tariq Mahmood is the guy I think he is, you may not have heard of him because his action is being remodelled - in the U19 World Cup, he was a blatant chucker.

(I don't know his action is being remodelled, but I suspect it might be).