Doosra in Spin Bowling


Doosra is an typical Indian sub continent word which means the “other one”. It is the common word mostly used in Hindi and Urdu languages.

Doosra = The other one.

Doosra is one of the latest discoveries in spin bowling which had troubled many of the best batsman. Like Googly in leg spin bowling, it is a integral part of off-spin bowling.

Doosra has been introduced into the lime light of Cricket in 1990’s by the Great off spin bowler ‘ Saqlain Mustaq ‘. Unlike Googly which is an integral part of leg spin bowling for so many decades, Doosra is an integral part of off spin bowling from 1990’s to present. Doosra has given the new life to off spin bowling and there by to disappearing spin bowling. It is one of the dominating delivery in spin bowling which has feared the batsman dominated Cricket world.

DEFINITION

Doosra can be called as the other one or the wrong one. It is defined as the ball which pitches in and around the off stump line or in line and turns away from the right handed batsman to towards outside the off stump or towards off stumps.

You can say Doosra is an reverse of off break which actually pitches in and around the off stump line and moves away from the batsman or towards outside the off stumps.

And thats why the word other one or wrong one or Doosra is used for this type of delivery which moves the other way, which actually should have moved into the batsman.

So how do you bowl a Doosra ?

Unlike Googly it is a very difficult delivery to bowl. It has complete different arm action compared to normal off break action. Shifting from Normal off break action to Doosra is a difficult task. You need a lot of practice.

So before knowing to bowl a Doosra you have to know nice genuine off break bowling. Because off break is the key to every off spin bowling weapons (arm ball, doosra, off-Topspinner……etc). You need to understand the phenomena i.e how the off break goes on, how the ball and in which direction is rotating is very important.

Now before bowling a Doosra let us know how to bowl a genuine off break and understand the phenomena behind it.

OFF BREAK

NORMAL OFF BREAK

Off break may be defined as the ball which pitches in and around the off stump line and turns into the batsman or towards leg slip region in fact it breaks from the pitch (off stump line) or soil (when it hits the pitch) and turns towards the stumps.

Since it always pitches in and around the off stump line i.e always deals with the off stump line thats why it is called as Off break. And the word Break is used because generally as the ball pitches it goes straight but here in Off break it doesn’t go straight , it pitches on seam and suddenly turns into the batsman or towards stumps , i.e where the word Break means it. In fact it breaks from the pitch (off stump line) and moves towards the stumps from that straight line.

So therefore this type of bowling is called as Off Break.

A Standard Off break is the ball which is always and always bowled in and around the off stump line (mostly seen in Test matches).

So how to bowl a Off Break ?

The first thing is, it is really difficult to explain Off Break theoretically but still trying to explain it very clearly and also practically very soon.

Now hold the ball across the seam so that the fingers (fore and middle) are on the top of the seam (across) little bit widely separated, the thumb and ring fingers are with the seam nicely gripping the ball.

Now bowl it in orthodox style i.e by high straight arm action with your arm and wrist, with the fingers at the time of releasing point.

Bowl it in such a way that your arm has to be in high straight arm action angled at (135 deg) (generally) with respect to the body, the wrist (with palm) has to be angled at 135 or 45 deg with respect to the arm and has to be on right side of the ball, in fact the position of wrist has to be rotated from basic 0 deg position to 45 deg position in such a way that the back of the palm has to face behind you or long on region, the middle, fore, ring and thumb fingers has to be adjusted in such a way that the ball should rotate in North East direction or towards leg gully or backward square leg region at the time of releasing point. That means while bowling Off break the middle, fore and thumb fingers has to play major role in rotating the ball towards North East direction or towards leg gully or backward square leg region.

So while bowling Off break you can notice very carefully the right arm, the right wrist being on right side of the ball and also the fingers (fore and middle) being on right and on top of the seam (across), the thumb and ring finger with the seam at the time of releasing point.

Here when you observe the rotation of the ball very carefully after the ball has been released from the hand the ball rotates in North East or leg gully or fine leg direction. You can observe the North East direction of seam of the ball in slow motions very easily.

After the ball released from hand (The ball rotating in North East direction with the seam) it pitches on the soil with the seam rotating in North East or leg gully or fine leg direction, here comes the concept “Off Break”, as the seam of the ball rotates in North East or leg gully or fine leg direction direction, this directed North East seam makes the ball to move towards into the batsman or wickets or fine leg region (After pitching). In fact moves from in and around the off stump line to towards the stumps.

Thereby the word “Directed North East seam of the ball” breaks from orthodox direction of the pitch (after pitching) and moves to unorthodox direction (into the batsman) thats why it is called as “OFF BREAK”.

Now lets understand the concept of rotation of the ball in Doosra and try to bowl it.
As it is said earlier Doosra is just the reverse of off break, in fact implies the leg break concept. Reverse of off break implies reverse of ” Directed backward square leg or leg gully or North-East seam of the ball “. That means ball rotates in first slip region or third man direction or in North-West direction.

You can bowl a Doosra by holding a ball in two ways. One is with the seam and the other one is across the seam. Depending upon the individual and his comfortability he can choose any way.

Lets discuss how to bowl a Doosra with the seam.

Now hold the ball with the seam facing towards 1st slip region in such a way that the index or fore finger nicely gripping the left part of the seam and the middle finger little bit widely separated from index finger gripping the right part of the ball on leather area. And the remaining fingers thumb and ring are fixed on left and right leather parts of the ball.

Now bowl it in unorthodox style with your open arm action along with your wrist and fingers at the time of releasing point.

Bowl it in such a way that your opened arm has to be high straight angled above 135 deg with your body (probably highest releasing point in off spin bowling), the wrist has to be tapped at an angle of 135 deg (probably) with your arm and has to come down below the ball, in fact the position of the wrist has to be rotated from basic 0 deg position to 180 deg position in such a way that the back of the palm has to face towards the batsman or little bit in leg slip region and the palm has to face you, the index finger and middle finger has to be adjusted in such a way that the ball should rotate in 1 st slip region or third man direction or in North-West direction at the time of releasing point.

While bowling Doosra the fore and middle fingers especially the fore plays a major role in rotating the ball towards 1 st slip or third man direction.

So here when you observe the rotation of the ball very carefully after the ball has been released from hand, the ball rotates in 1 st slip or in third man direction with the seam. These things can be observed very easily in slow motion replays in Test Matches.

After the ball has been released from hand it pitches on the soil with rotating in 1st slip or third man direction, here comes the concept ” Doosra ” as the ball rotates in 1st slip or in third man direction, this directed North West or 1st slip or third man seam of the ball makes the ball to move towards 1st slip region or third man direction after pitching, in fact moves from in and around off stump line to towards 1st slip region or third man direction.

Thereby the word ” Directed NW seam or 1st slip directed seam of the ball breaks from the soil after pitching and moves towards 1st slip region or third man direction. Here comes the basic concept of leg break in Doosra. Since it is used in off spin in different format it is called as ” The Great Doosra “.

You can also hold the ball with across the seam and can bowl a Doosra by applying the same theory stated ago.

The biggest worrying factor for ‘ Doosra ‘ is chucking problem. Because while bowling ‘ Doosra ‘ the elbow plays a major role in delivering this ball.

The elbow bends too much while bowling Doosra, than any other delivery in off spin bowling. International Cricket Council has some clear indications and rules in maintaining the degree level of elbow.

And if you cross that mandatory degree level of elbow, what ever it may be, then you will be called as ‘ Chucker ‘. That means you are chucking the ball in the spirit of the game.

Then you may not be allowed to play until you are testified.

FEATURES OF DOOSRA

  • Doosra is the delivery which moves the other way rather than which should have moved into the batsman. Thats why it is called as the other one.
  • Doosra’s speed normally ranges same as off break or little bit lesser than that.
  • Doosra is a nicely flighted delivery.
  • As it moves the other way, there are more chances for bowler to get batsman outside edged and even LBW’s and get them bowled.
  • It looks like Normal off break ball with same action but moves away from the batsman.

So how does the Doosra effects the bowler ?

  • If you bowl Off break continuously and continuously, then sudden change to Doosra then it effects the batsman and gives the result what you exactly needed.
  • That means what ever you have the weapon, the key is Off break i.e if and only if you bowl Off break continuously and then using the weapons you will be getting effects of those.
  • Some good batsman (now-a-days) are identifying the Doosra and are playing very well even it is bowled in good length. In that case you have to change your length from good length to little bit fuller because the time gap between after pitching and before hitting the bat will be very less compared to, when bowled in good length in that scenario it becomes very difficult for the batsman to identify the Doosra.
  • Of course it also depends on how you show your hand before and while bowling. It also depends on how you run with the crease i.e from corner or basic crease and also depends on your foot movement (foot movement changes, when bowled from Off break to Doosra).
  • Of course the good batsman watches all the above things mentioned in that case you have to be more preplanned to make changes in above things.

LENGTHS FOR DOOSRA

The good length for spin bowling ranges from 2 to 6 yards, but if we go little bit deeper in to the concept the bowling length for Doosra would be slightly different when compared with Off Break or Leg Breaks.

So why the lengths for Doosra is slightly different from Leg Breaks or Off Breaks. Let us discuss.

When Normal Off Break is bowled (generally) the ball pitches in and around the off stump line, then turns into the batsman or towards leg slip region.

As long as it turns enormously the length ranging from 2 to 6 yards is always good for Off Break bowling. And even i can assure you the length ranging from 0 to 6 yards could also become good if the ball turns even more enormously.

From above you might get the sense the length for Off Break depends upon ,” How much does the ball turns after pitching “. In fact ” the spin of the ball after pitching decides its length whether good or bad”.

And also don’t forget, the length for Off Break not only depends on “How much does the ball spins after pitching” but also the flight , the change of pace , the speed, the skidding factor, the fast drifting in air factor and other factors.

NOW LET US DISCUSS THE LENGTHS FOR DOOSRA

We know that Doosra moves away from the batsman and flighted delivery. And also its speed is slightly little bit lesser than Off Break.

The three factors moving away from the batsman, flighting factor, speed factor effects its line and length.

So when you bowl a Doosra on a length ranging from 5 to 6 yards or above 6 yards , as the ball moves away from the batsman, flighted and little bit less quicker this length becomes shorter length for the batsmen.

There by the batsman can easily defend or play a shot.

So it should be bowled in between 2 to 5 yards . That is little bit fuller in length. Even more good length for Doosra could be 2 to 4 yards. Not only the length , the line is also very important for Doosra, because if you bowl in and around the Off stump line and length (2 to 4 yards), as it moves away from the batsman and flighted , there are more chances for bowler to get outside edged and get them LBWed.

The other very important factor for the Doosra to be bowled in LITTLE BIT FULLER LENGTH is because the Fuller length gives no time for the batsman to decide ” what actually the ball is and in which direction does it moves ” as we bowl a Doosra which looks like Off Break , he thinks it as Off Break and plays for Off break and gets Demolished by DOOSRA. (The time and speed difference of the ball between “after hitting the pitch and before hitting the bat” will be less in Fuller length compared to shorter or Good length)

These length factors are also applicable to and similar to Off Spin weapons such as Arm ball, Off Top spinner, Slider, Change of pace etc.

The other very important factor for bowlers is Off Break bowling. By bowling just Doosra’s you don’t get wickets . The key is always Off Break as it is said earlier.

Bowl continuously and continuously Off Break at least 2 to 3 in a row , then shift on to Doosra that to in line and length (2 to 4 yards) then it effects you as a bowler and gets the real meaning for Doosra .

Similarly to Doosra’s the Off Top spinners, the Arm balls, Sliders, Skidders, Shooters cannot be bowled continuously, the Off Break has to be always play a major role and then shift on suddenly to these weapons, that to in line and length then it effects you as a Good Bowler and gets the real meaning for these weapons.

(Visited 101 times, 1 visits today)
error: