Spin variation and bowling are all about the art of deception between the bowler and the pitch. The batsman gets the predetermined idea about having a full toss which in the air after being released drips down and turns away, resulting in the failure of judgment by the batsman.
From the deceptive leg spin to the enigmatic off-spin, the art of spin bowling is a captivating blend of skill, strategy, and a touch of the unexpected.
Types of Spin Variations in Cricket
Off-Spin– The off-spin is a tricky bowling spin variation that can deceive batsmen. The bowler spins the ball clockwise, making it change direction as it goes towards the batsman. This can make it hard for the batsman to hit the ball correctly, often leading to mistakes and wickets with this spin variation.
Graeme Swann, the right-arm orthodox off-spinner shared his tip of spin variation by focusing on gripping the ball to bowl this delivery. To spin the bowl toward the wicket or batsman, the ball has to be held from the seam while the wrist needs to be cocked, the index finger is separated from the other fingers, and placed above and the thumb helps stabilize the grip.
When about to release the ball, the fingers should be on the seam and bowled straight up on the seam to get the desired movement after pitching towards the batsman. Whereas to simply let it go with the direction angled by the bowling arm, simply hold the ball cross-seam or just bowl it with a sliding angle, i.e., lateral, so it skids onto the pitch without movement.
Leg-Spin- The leg spin is a tricky bowling spin variation that spins the ball in the opposite direction, making it difficult for batsmen to predict its path. This can lead to unexpected bounces and turns, making it hard for batsmen to hit the ball correctly and often resulting in wickets.
Shane Warne, the greatest Australian leg spinner in the world to ever exist crossed the mark of 700 international wickets in Test cricket. He shared his masterstroke of bowling leg spin focusing on the pivotal role of wrist cocked and seam held right. Two fingers above the ball and two at the bottom, grabbing it from the seam with an inverted wrist.
The importance of leg-spin delivery pitching on the seam dictated the movement of the ball after pitching through which Warne became one of the most successful bowlers of all time in the history of cricket.
Flipper– The flipper is a deceptive spin variation often used by a leggie. It’s delivered with a similar action to a leg break but with a slight change in wrist rotation. The ball initially appears to be spinning away from the right-handed batsman, but upon pitching, it skids sharply and moves towards the batsman.
This unexpected movement can deceive batsmen, leading to wickets. The flipper is a challenging delivery to execute, requiring precise wrist control and a good understanding of the pitch conditions Flipper gives an extra bounce to the ball and increases the speed increases after pitching.
Piyush Chawla, the Indian leg spinner who made his debut at the early age of 17 for his country, shared a tip for a flipper while emphasizing the role of backspin involved for the ball to get through the batsman in the desired direction with an increased speed to not let him judge the length and line of the ball for playing the shot.
Googly- The googly is a tricky spin variation that can fool batsmen. It looks like a leg break at first, but then it spins the other way. This unexpected movement can make batsmen miss the ball. It’s hard to bowl a googly well, as it needs a lot of wrist skill and good gripping.
Adil Rashid shared his secret sauce for bowling a perfect deceiving googly. For a leg spinner, the wrist has to be inverted and cocked, just while the time of release the bowler needs to make sure that his/her bowling hand is facing up and the revolutions are directed by the index and third finger.
Knuckle– This type of delivery is usually bowled by the seamers to beat the batsman with the wrong judgment of speed. However, a bowler used this technique as a spin variation to bowl in his spinning deliveries as well.
The index and middle fingers that are used to hold the ball with the seam supported with the thumb, are just folded or bent while grabbing the ball to let the batsman anticipate a faster delivery which instead comes as a slower one and without much backspin involved it usually sits down on the pitch after pitching.
Sunil Narine, the unorthodox off-spinner from West Indies known as the ‘king of variations’ started bowling this spin variation delivery which was extremely effective in franchise cricket and he got one more variation of spin added in his mystic deliveries.
