Googly may also be called as wrong one or the other one. Especially the word Googly is termed in leg spin bowling. While the same opposite version is termed as doosra in off spin bowling.

So what actually the Googly is?

In leg spin bowling Googly is a basic and common weapon. Googly is simply defined as reverse of leg break that means ” In leg break the ball pitches between middle and leg and leaves the batsman without hitting the wicket, whereas the googly is that which pitches outside the off stump line or in the line and comes in to the batsman or hits the wicket i.e simply implies the off break” (Generally).

So how to bowl a Googly?

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

Before knowing to bowl a Googly you have to know nice genuine leg break bowling. Because leg break is the key to these weapons (Googly,Flipper,Top spinner,slider…). You have to understand the phenomena or the process i.e how the leg break goes on, how the ball and in which direction is rotating is very important.

That means before bowling Googly let us know how to bowl Genuine leg break and understand the phenomena, concept behind the leg break.

Leg Break

Leg break may be defined as the ball which pitches between leg and middle stump or pitches on leg stump or pitches outside the leg stump and turns towards the off stump or outside the off stump i.e in fact it breaks from the pitch (line) or soil (when it hits the pitch) and turns away outside the off stump or towards off stump.

Since it always pitches in and around the leg stump line (as shown in figure) i.e always deals with the leg thats why it is called as Leg break. And the word Break is used because generally as the ball pitches it should go straight by helding its line, but here in leg break it doesn’t go straight, it pitches on seam and breaks the line of pitch of the ball by turning away from the respective line to towards or outside off stump line, i.e where the word break means it. This is the reason why we use words “leg” and “break” in legbreak bowling.

Therefore this type of bowling is called as Leg Break.

A Standard leg break is the ball which is always and always bowled between leg and middle stumps (mostly seen in Test matches).

So how to bowl a Leg Break?

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

Now bowl it in unorthodox style i.e by reversing your arm and wrist, along with the fingers at the time of releasing point.

Bowl it in such a way that the arm has to be reversely angled at (135 deg) with respect to the body, the wrist (with palm) has to be angled at 45 deg with respect to the arm and has to be on left 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 towards you, the middle, index, ring and thumb fingers has to be adjusted in such a way that the ball should rotate from right to left direction or in North West direction or towards third man direction at the time of releasing point. That means while bowling leg break the middle, index and ring fingers has to play major role in rotating the ball from right to left direction or towards third man direction.

So while bowling leg break you can notice very carefully the right arm, the right wrist being on left side of the ball and also the fingers (index and middle) being on left 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 partial back of the hand, the ball rotates in North West or Third man direction. You can observe the North West direction of the ball in slow motions very easily.

After the ball released from hand (The ball rotating in North West direction with the seam) it pitches on the soil with the seam rotating in North West or third man direction, here comes the concept “Leg Break”, as the seam of the ball rotates in North West direction, this directed North West seam makes the ball to move towards North West or third man direction (After pitching). In fact moves from middle and leg to outside the off stump or towards the stumps.

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

Now lets understand the concept of rotation of the ball in Googly and try to know and bowl it.

As it is said earlier Googly is just the reverse of leg break, in fact implies the off break concept. Reverse of leg break implies reverse of “Directed North West seam of the ball”. That means the ball rotates in North East direction.

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

Now bowl it in unorthodox style i.e by reversing your arm and wrist, along with the fingers at the time of releasing point.

Now bowl it in such a way that the arm has to be reversely straight angled above 135 deg with respect to the body, the position of the wrist has to be rotated from basic 0 deg position to above 90 deg position in such a way that the back of the palm has to face the batsman or towards the wickets, the middle and ring fingers has to be adjusted in such a way the ball should rotate in North East direction or Leg slip direction (Off break concept) at the time of releasing point. That means while bowling Googly the middle and ring fingers has to play major role in rotating the ball towards North East direction or Leg slip direction.

So while bowling Googly you can notice very carefully the right arm, the right wrist being below portion of the ball, the fingers (index and middle) being below portion of the ball and on top of the seam (across) , the ring finger being little bit on left side of the ball (facing you) with the seam at the time of releasing point. These middle and ring fingers makes the ball to rotate in North East direction or in Leg slip direction (Off break concept).

Here when you observe the rotation of the ball very carefully after the ball has been released from good back of the hand , the ball rotates in North East direction or Leg slip direction (Here in Googly it doesn’t rotate with the seam in NE direction) it rotates little bit with across the seam, but rotates in North East direction. These things can be observed very easily in slow motion replays.

After released from back of the hand it pitches on the soil with (little bit across the seam) rotating in North East or Leg slip direction , here comes the concept “GOOGlY” as the ball rotates in North East or Leg slip direction, this directed North East seam of the ball makes the ball to move towards NE or Leg slip direction after hitting the pitch, in fact moves from outside the off stump line towards the stumps or moves into the batsmen.

There by the word ” Directed NE Seam of the ball ” breaks or moves from the offstump line towards the wickets (NE) after hitting the pitch. Here comes the basic concept of Off Break in Googly. Since it is used in Leg Spin in different Format it is called as “THE GREAT GOOGLY”.

So how does the Googly effects the bowler?

• If you bowl leg break continuously and continuously, then sudden change to Googly then it effects the batsman and gives the result what you exactly needed.
• That means what ever you have the weapon, the key is leg break i.e if and only if you bowl leg break continuously and then using the weapons you will be getting effects of those.
• Some good batsman (now-a-days) are identifying the Googly 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 Googly.
• 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 leg break to Googly).
• 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 GOOGLY

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 Googly would be slightly different when compared with Off Break or Leg Breaks.

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

When Normal Leg Break is bowled (generally) the ball pitches in line or in between middle and leg, then turns away from the batsman to towards outside the off stump.

As long as it turns enormously the length ranging from 2 to 6 yards is always good for Leg 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 Leg 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 Leg 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 GOOGLY

We know that Googly moves into the batsman and flighted delivery. And also its speed is slightly little bit lesser than Leg Break.

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

So when you bowl a Googly on a length ranging from 5 to 6 yards or above 6 yards , as the ball moves into 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 Googly could be 2 to 4 yards. Not only the length , the line is also very important for Googly, because if you bowl in out side the off stump line and length (2 to 4 yards), as it moves into the batsman and flighted, there are more chances for bowler to get LBWs and get them bowled.

The other very important factor for the Googly 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 Googly which looks like Leg Break , he thinks it as Leg Break and plays for Leg break and gets Demolished by GOOGLY. (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 Leg Spin weapons such as Flipper, Top spinner, Slider, Change of pace etc.

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

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

Similarly to Googlys the Top spinners, the Flippers, Sliders, Skidders, Shooters cannot be bowled continuously, the Leg 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.