Cricket is one of the most popular sports globally and why not? What started many years back in the United Kingdom has now gained prominence and relevance in different parts of the world. Even in places like the United States which is known more for games like baseball, cricket found a huge audience when the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne took an initiative to spread the culture of the game in that part of the world. Over the years, the format of the game and the playable overs might have reduced but the passion and love for the game among viewers have only increased and how.
Yes, it can arguably be said that owing to the short format nature of the game, cricket has become more of a batsman’s game. Be it the rules or the size of boundaries or even the huge willows that come in today’s time which make stroke-making easy, everything is pretty much in favour of the batsmen. So, what do bowlers do in times like these to fox the batsman and have some sort of chance to get the better of them on the cricket field? Well, technically, you can’t ball or tamper with it. So, you might as well change your action or bring in something unique about it that will make the batsman think while facing you.
No, it’s not that we haven’t seen bowlers with indifferent actions before the T20 era. But the numbers have certainly gone high over the past few years. While some bowlers have made the most of their indifferent action to create an aura or mystery around the bowling, some haven’t been able to make the most of it yet. So here’s taking a quick look at 8 such bowlers in cricket history who made a lot of buzz for their weird bowling actions.
Muttiah Muralidharan: The Sri-Lankan legend is the highest wicket-taker in the world and why not? For the longest time, he’s been on top of his game. Even if surfaces don’t turn, he could produce turns off the track. And when Murali would play on a spin-friendly wicket, he would always focus on pitching the ball on the rough to produce a turn. His doosra was deceitful and the best thing was that be it his regular off-spinner or his doosra, the action never changed. Although he had been reprimanded a couple of times by ICC for his action, his action continues to be a matter of mystery for cricket lovers. An absolute nightmare for batsmen during his prime.
Jasprit Bumrah: Our very own ‘Boom Boom Bumrah’ burst into the scene for the first time in the year 2013 when he made his debut for Mumbai Indians and from there onwards, he’s only focussed on getting better to become the leading choice for spearheading the Indian pace attack. His action is quite different from a regular fast bowler. During the delivery point, his right hand goes high and after 2-3 seconds, it comes down at a brisk pace to complete the circle of delivery. This makes him quite difficult to read to batsmen, especially while playing yorkers as his unique action doesn’t give players much time to judge the length and adapt according to it. One of the finest pacers in modern-day cricket.
Shivil Kaushik: Although not a huge name in International cricket, Shivil has done quite a decent job in the IPL. What makes him quite different from other spinners is his action. While most of the spinners ensure their head position faces the batsman whom they are bowling, he looks at the cover region during the delivery point. This is a major distraction point for any batsman, especially the ones who aren’t much used to facing him. His action is quite similar to South Africa’s Paul Adams who too once made a lot of buzz around the 90s because of his indifferent action.
Sohail Tanvir: If India is known for producing some of the greatest batsmen in world cricket, Pakistan has always been the ideal breeding ground for young and talented pace bowlers. Well, if a country has had someone like Wasim Akram who’s also known as ‘Sultan Of Swing’ for his left-handed brilliance, it is only natural that others in the country would be inspired as well. One such bowler is Sohail Tanvir. What makes Sohail’s action different from other bowlers is how during the delivery point, he lands on his right foot despite being a left-armer. For any batsman, it’s difficult to predict the length of a bowler who’s landing on his right foot and simultaneously rotating his arms at a 180-degree angle with good pace and swing. His unique action helped him achieve success to a great extent.
Sunil Narine: He’s one of the very few mystery spinners in the country who’s managed to hold onto the ‘mystery factor’ for quite a long time. Although not entirely unorthodox, what makes Sunil’s action different is how his action is too slow and casual yet when it comes to turning the ball both ways, he can do it with just his fingers. Also till the point of landing, he covers his hands behind and that makes it difficult for the batsman to read his finger position to judge which way he will turn the ball. No wonder, he’s a pioneer in the limited overs format where strokeplay is the need of the hour. If you can defend well, there’s a high chance you will survive his brilliance but there’s not much scope for that in T20 cricket and that’s why, whenever batsmen look to capitalise and dominate him, Sunil keeps getting better thereby adding to his wicket column.
Lasith Malinga: ‘Slinga Malinga’ as he’s fondly called by cricket lovers all over the globe, Lasith has achieved tremendous success in both International crickets as well limited-overs format. Unlike other fast bowlers who move their arms parallel to the body and the direction in which they are running, Malinga always used to curve his right hand at a 180-degree angle and then throttle his right arm to deliver the ball. Because of the wide angle, he used to be very difficult to face, especially when he used to bowl those lethal yorkers that would more often serve as ‘toe crushers’ for batsmen. Very few batsmen in world cricket have managed to dominate him and attack him effortlessly and no wonder, that speaks volumes of his class and brilliance.
Kedar Jadhav: India’s Kedar Jadhav too has quite an interesting and indifferent bowling action which is a cut above the rest. Till the point of delivery, he takes very casual strides which could easily be compared to a stroll down the park and then suddenly, as he reaches the landing crease, he curves his arms to a near about ‘120 degree angle’ before pushing the arm forward to deliver the ball. In short, he can easily be referred to as the modern-day ‘spin version’ of Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga.
Paul Adams: Last but certainly not least, we have the ‘OG’ aka South Africa’s Paul Adams who was an absolute rage for his indifferent bowling action. In any case, whenever batsmen are facing spinners, they are worried about the turn, direction of the turn, intensity of flight and the length of the ball. Amidst all this, while facing the bowler, if the bowler doesn’t even look at you and instead is spotted looking at the cover region fielder while delivering the ball, it can distract any batsman at any point of the game. India’s Shivil Kaushik has a pretty similar action and well, seems like someone’s taken inspiration from Paul the right way.
Gone are those days when a lot of emphasis would be given to techniques and methods. Today, with shorter formats coming into the scenario and with more pressure to perform to retain your position in the playing XI, all you need is consistency and results, irrespective of how unorthodox your action and method are. So, if someone is doing well with an unorthodox and indifferent style and is getting results, why not? Yes, you might not get the same flair of a ‘perfect’ Sachin Tendulkar straight drive in today’s batsmen or the perfect wrist movement of Shane Warne during a spin delivery, all that matters is how you are being the best version of yourself to dominate on that very day on the cricket field. Changing times require a change in methods and ‘modern problems require modern solutions’. So folks, let’s not be surprised if, shortly, we see more bowlers come up with indifferent and weird bowling actions in an attempt to fox the batsman. All’s well that ends well and ultimately, it’s the wickets column and the figure that shows over there at the end of the game that matters, not how you get it.