The game of Cricket has evolved over the years. However, there are some inventions in the bowling which has been left unsaid.
Here are some of the most innovative deliveries in the history of Cricket:
1. Knuckleball
Zaheer khan’s knuckleball is still one of the most remembered deliveries in cricket. He would push the ball with his knuckles which help in tracking the batsmen who were expecting a fastball.
Zaheer Khan would indulge himself bowling the knuckleball wherever the situation is demanded. World Cup 2011 is a great example of one such situation where Zaheer Khan delivered his innovation resulting into some extraordinary stats and bowling figure.
According to coach Gary Kristen, “The thing I remember about Zak in the 2011 World Cup was how he developed his knuckleball that he had practised before the tournament started. He had the type of confidence that he actually used it extensively in the World Cup”
– by Shraddha Kejriwal
2. CARROM BALL
Ajantha Mendis re-introduced the concept of carrom ball back in 2008. Carrom ball is a type of spin bowling which is implied by releasing the ball by flicking it between the thumb and a bent middle finger.
Ajantha Mendis became the toughest bowler to face with his deadly carrom ball deliveries. Later, Ravichandran Ashwin implied the technique of carrom ball which now turned out to be his greatest strength in bowling.
3. THE DOOSRA
The doosra which was invented by the Pakistani cricketer Saqlain Mushtaq is a type of delivery that spins in an opposite direction to an off break.
This type of delivery particularly aims at confusing the batsmen to play a poor shot. Saqlain Mushtaq ruled the sport for a while with his brilliant deliveries of “The doosra”. Muttiah Muralitharan, Harbhajan Singh, Johan Botha, Shoaib Malik and many other cricketers adapted the technique of “The doosra.”
4. SLOW YORKER
Lasith Malinga introduced the concept of slow Yorker. Yorker is a kind of delivery that touches the cricket pitch around the batsmen’s feet. Youngsters of Indian Cricket like Jasprit Bumrah claims to have learned the slow Yorker delivery from Lasith Malinga itself. Malinga’s slow Yorker is definitely a kind of delivery which every batsman avoids facing.
5. THE FLIPPER
The Flipper was the signature delivery of Anil Kumble which was reputedly invented by the Australian leg spinner Clarrie Grimmett. The flipper is supposedly quite difficult to play as the ball keeps pitching low after bouncing. The Australian leg- spinner, Shane Warne was a great user of the Flipper delivery as well.
6. REVERSE SWING
A number of batting line-up was destroyed by Waqar Younis’s reverse swing bowling. Reverse Swing is one of the most difficult deliveries to bowl and it has been mastered by only a handful of bowlers.
7. TOP SPINNER
Sunil Narine adapted the top spin bowling along with his other strengths like carrom ball and doosra. In top spinner, the ball is top spinned by twisting it with the fingers prior to the delivery. Sunil Narine’s ability to top spin the ball has made him one of the luminaries of the cricketing world.
8. OFF CUTTER
Off cutter, bowled normally by a fast bowler is a very risky ball to bowl at the death overs. Bravo has registered a number of wickets with this delivery. Mushtafizur Rahman is probably the most successful bowler of the off-cutter.
9. IN SWINGING YORKER
Inswinging Yorkers have a reputation for being particularly hard to defend and to score runs off. Wasim Akram, the stalwart of the cricketing world bowls the most fatal off-swinging deliveries.
According to Wasim Akram, he would view the top of the stumps in order to get the ball to cut back sharply. Many cricketers including the young Indian bowler Jaydev Unadkat claims to have learned the art of swinging the ball from the legend, Wasim Akram.
10. SLIDER
Shane Warne is said to have invented the Slider. However, the technique was also used back in the 1960s by the Australian spinner, Peter Philpott. Slider, which is bowled particularly by wrist spinners is a type of delivery which is bowled with the thumb facing the bowler. It floats to a fuller length and bounces less than what the batsman may expect.
– by Shraddha Kejriwal