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Fascinating Stuff on Murali's action

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Im not going to get drawn into a Murali debate but I will comment on the first clip.

The Sky News segment comments that the problem is that Murali bowls with a bent arm. Um, no its not. There is nothing illegal about bowling with a bent arm. The issue is whether it straightens. You would think they would at least know the issue.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
Im not going to get drawn into a Murali debate but I will comment on the first clip.

The Sky News segment comments that the problem is that Murali bowls with a bent arm. Um, no its not. There is nothing illegal about bowling with a bent arm. The issue is whether it straightens. You would think they would at least know the issue.
tbh, Sky News is not in the minority.. The majority of the cricket fans around the world, including some pretty well known ones here seemed to have thought the same... :p
 

Simon

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Dont see the point on these new threads, everyone who thinks he chucks wont change their opinion ever and vice versa.
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Dont see the point on these new threads, everyone who thinks he chucks wont change their opinion ever and vice versa.
Dont be so sure. I always thought he chucked. I am not so sure today.

And I am a stickler for these things and I consider the 15 degree law criminal.
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Im not going to get drawn into a Murali debate but I will comment on the first clip.

The Sky News segment comments that the problem is that Murali bowls with a bent arm. Um, no its not. There is nothing illegal about bowling with a bent arm. The issue is whether it straightens. You would think they would at least know the issue.
Goughy. Did you see the second clip where he bowls in a brace? Thats the one that amazed me. Have a look if you haven't.
 

Howsie

International Captain
Okay the second clip may have won me over. Pretty amazing stuff really, Murali's mutant like haha.
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Okay the second clip may have won me over. Pretty amazing stuff really, Murali's mutant like haha.
I was truly astonished to see that one. I always thought that, inspite of the accepted fact that Murali had this genetic condition in his elbow, wrist etc but I thought he should not be allowed to get away with exploiting this defect. I was sure he was bending/flecxing at the elbow in his delivery. This brace had me thinking.

That does not, however, explain all the other doosra bowlers who do not have Murali's special problems (or blessings if you please) of his joints. With normal body you can not bowl a doosra without bending at the elbow. I would like someone to ask Shastri to do the same experiment with Harbhajan's elbow in a brace and then ask him to bowl the doosra.

What the 15 degree law does is it opens the way for all those like Harbjajan (and hundreds of youngster's in India and Pakistan) who are bowling what are clearly illegal in spirit of what the original law was all about.
 

pasag

RTDAS
I love the way he doesn't say anything the entire time as opposed to Slater who doesn't stop once given the chance.
 

JBH001

International Regular
I was truly astonished to see that one. I always thought that, inspite of the accepted fact that Murali had this genetic condition in his elbow, wrist etc but I thought he should not be allowed to get away with exploiting this defect. I was sure he was bending/flecxing at the elbow in his delivery. This brace had me thinking.

That does not, however, explain all the other doosra bowlers who do not have Murali's special problems (or blessings if you please) of his joints. With normal body you can not bowl a doosra without bending at the elbow. I would like someone to ask Shastri to do the same experiment with Harbhajan's elbow in a brace and then ask him to bowl the doosra.

What the 15 degree law does is it opens the way for all those like Harbjajan (and hundreds of youngster's in India and Pakistan) who are bowling what are clearly illegal in spirit of what the original law was all about.
I knew you though he chucked it, SJS. But I thought that only pertained to his doosra? Do you believe he chucks all his deliveries? If so, I find that a little odd, as certain posts you have made seem to suggest that you hold his bowling in high regard.

The second clip is a good one, and one I have seen before. However, it still does not address the possibility that Murali may now throw in test matches with virtual impunity - albeit, I think, without intending to do so (especially for instance towards the tail end of long spells or a lot of bowling or when looking for something extra when bowling on unhelpful surfaces). His action has changed over the years, for a while there, it was quite dirty and was more prone to looking bad when Murali was doing a decent amount of bowling. He did some remedial work on it and came back a better bowler for it - this was in the early 2000s IIRC.

I sort of agree with doubts concerning the doosra. Murali may be the only bowler able to pull it off, but even he, I think, skirts too close to the legal line in doing so, and some deliveries I have seen have been a little too dodgy for comfort. My other issue is that I think, in some ways, it made him a worse spin bowler. At times I have rationalised it with the thought that I dont mind fast bowlers working on the ball in this era of big bats, flat pitches, and shortened boundaries - but that remains a rationalisation, and not a very good one at that. Especially when one takes into account other young spin bowlers. I still havent made up my mind about that.
 

Ikki

Hall of Fame Member
Well, in the beginning I was a fervent believer that he chucked it. Thanks to this forum and the people who persisted in giving me the facts I did a 180° (:p).
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
And I am a stickler for these things and I consider the 15 degree law criminal.
Why ? If you believe the technology exonerates Murali then why not trust the same technology when it says :-
"according to the old law 99% of the international bowlers were found to be breaching the set figure"

Obviously the set figure is 5% for spinners and 10% for pace bowlers.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
My view on the whole thing is you gotta eradicate deliberate chucking.. And I think between 15 to 20% of flex, it can almost NEVER be deliberate.. You can't deliberate to a percentage like that, I believe. So, if a guy is not chucking intentionally and if his elbows end up straightening or bending a couple of degrees more than the next guy, that should not mean he is "chucking".. The law's spirit, AFAIC, is to eradicate deliberate chuckers and this rule does that just as much and in a much fairer manner...
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
What the 15 degree law does is it opens the way for all those like Harbjajan (and hundreds of youngster's in India and Pakistan) who are bowling what are clearly illegal in spirit of what the original law was all about.
I disliked for Harbhajan to be singled out and I would love if he goes through the same test.

Here is Saqlain bowling his Doosra :-

YouTube - Saqlain Mushtaq Vs Adam Gilchrist BEAUTIFULL!!!

Watch @ 26th sec into the Clip, do you believe it is chucking ?
 

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Lillian Thomson

Hall of Fame Member
Fairly old news. He chucks. The fact that he can't straighten his arm completely proves nothing - unless he bowls in a Test Match with the brace on.
 

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