Top 5 Spinners & Fastest Spin Ball In Cricket History – Types Of Variations In Spin Bowling
SPIN BOWLING EXPLAINED:
Whenever we talk about cricket, we all say cricket is a batters game and it’s true as well but to have a luxury of a specialist quality spinner in your team is a blessing in this game of cricket.
You know that this game is evolving very quickly and for you to be successful as a bowler in this era where T20 cricket is prioritized, one thing you have to master is the art of bowling and for that, you have to master different skills, especially in spin bowling there are many options and for someone who wants to succeed at the highest level, he should be aware of these bowling variations so that he can challenge batters in this game of cricket.
VARIATIONS IN SPINNERS:
There are different types of spinners, every type of spinner has a different name in the cricketing sense, and following are the type of spinners that are basically seen in the game of cricket;
| LEG SPIN BOWLER | OFF-SPIN BOWLER (RA) |
| CHINAMAN SPIN BOWLER | OFF-SPIN BOWLER (LA) |
| MYSTERY SPIN BOWLER | |
VARIATIONS IN SPIN BOWLING:
Followings are the skills and inventions in spin bowling a bowler can adopt and master this art of bowling to be successful in cricket as a bowler;
- ARM BALL –
It is a variation that is bowled by the OFF–SPIN bowlers in the game of cricket, this ball is used by the off-spinners whether you are a right-arm spinner or a left-arm spinner, you can bowl this delivery which is quick through the air and goes straight through with the angle without any spin and which can deceive the batsman.
- GOOGLY –
This is the most useful weapon for a LEG–SPIN bowler, this delivery is bowled into the right-arm batter and is used otherwise by the left-arm legspinner who takes the ball away from the right-arm batter and which can result in the wicket of a batsman if bowled at the right time.
- FLIPPER –
This is another type of variation in spin bowling that is used by the LEG–SPIN bowler, but it is usually not used that commonly because for this delivery you have to practice very hard so you can pitch the ball otherwise, you can leak runs in any crucial stage of the game, this delivery skids on the pitch and is bounced low which can deceive the batsman and can leave him clueless.
- CARROM BALL –
Another very important variation for a spin bowler is named as the Carrom Ball used by the RIGHT–ARM off-spinners, this delivery was invented by AJANTHA MENDIS and now this delivery is mastered by the Indian Ravi Ashwin and Afghanistan’s Mujeeb-Ur-Rehman. This delivery spins away from the right-arm batter when it is bowled by any right-arm off-spinner which leaves batsman clueless at times.
- TOP SPIN –
This is the most common type of spin bowling variation used by the LEG–SPIN bowers very often, in this delivery the ball goes straight through the hand and pitches where the bowler wants the ball to be and there is no sideways movement for the ball because there are no conventional revs on the ball which results in the ball to dip early and can be difficult to hit out.
- DOOSRA –
This is the most deadliest variation in spin bowling used by the OFF – SPIN bowlers, the inventor of this delivery was the Pakistani Legend ‘’ SAQLAIN MUSHTAQ ‘’ who introduced this bowl to the world, this delivery is the most difficult one to bowl and master as it bamboozled the batters whenever it is bowled but now this delivery is illegal in the laws of cricket.
TOP 5 SPINNERS IN CRICKET History:
As mentioned the most used variations by bowlers, here is the list of those spinners who mastered the art of spin bowling and enjoyed a great success in International cricket, those top 5 spinners are as follows;
- MUTTIAH MURALITHARAN –
When we talk about the greatest ever spinner who played cricket, this name will pop out into your head immediately and even stats prove this because the Sri Lankan legend has claimed 1347 wickets in his international career which are way ahead than anyone who played international cricket, he is also the bowler who has got the most number of wickets in test cricket ever in the history of the game.
- SHANE WARNE –
Shane Warner is undoubtedly one of the greatest ever to play the game, he is definitely in the top 2 if not the number 1 who played for Australia and he was the one who took leg spin bowling to the next level and showed how important it is to have a quality leg spinner, Shane Warner claimed 1001 international wickets in his career with more than 700 wickets in test cricket for his National team.
- ANIL KUMBLE –
Indian leg-spin bowler, Anil Kumble is also one of the top spinners ever played international cricket as he enjoyed a great success in his career where he picked up around 1000 international wickets for his team and helped his team in winning many important matches during his career.
- SAQLAIN MUSHTAQ –
Saqlain Mushtaq who was the inventor of ‘’ DOOSRA ‘’, the delivery which took the world by storm impressed everyone in his international career and even though he didn’t played as much as others still his quality speaks as he picked up 200+ wickets in both TESTS and ODI cricket for Pakistan, he claimed around 500 international wickets for Pakistan in very few matches which he played for his team in his career.
- ABDUL QADIR –
The name which most of you don’t know ‘’ ABDUL QADIR ‘’, the spin bowler who introduced the art of leg spin bowling when there was not much of a talent related to legspinner, Qadir was the master of this art as he picked up more than 350 international wickets but was definitely above all in his class and accuracy during his playing days.
FASTEST BALLS BOWLED IN INTERNATIONAL CRICKET:
As a spinner you don’t often bowl that much fast but there are some exemptions where even a spin bowler has bowled some of the quick deliveries ever in cricket, here are the top 5 fastest deliveries bowled by spin bowlers;
- SHAHID AFRIDI (134 KMPH) –
The biggest name in world cricket when it comes to spin bowling ‘’ SHAHID AFRIDI ‘’, bowled the fastest ever bowl in the history of cricket, he broke all the records by a margin when he fired in a 134 KMPH delivery in a T20i game vs New Zealand.
- ANIL KUMBLE (118 KMPH) –
Anil Kumble comes in at the second spot in this list, the legendary Indian spinner Anil Kumble makes into this spot because he bowled the second fastest delivery by a spin bowler, as the spin wizard of India delivered his fastest ever bowl in an ODI match vs ENGLAND where he clocked 118 KMPH and dismissed one of the best of the game Marcus Trescothick in his playing days.
- PIYUSH CHAWLA (117 KNPH) –
The spinner with the third fastest bowl in the history of cricket is Piyush Chawla, the veteran Indian spinner in his career bowled a 117 KMPH delivery to the Aussie power hitter Shane Watson and dismissed him with this surprise delivery in an IPL match playing for Kings XI Punjab.
- KRUNAL PANDYA (112.5) –
Another Indian player makes into this list, left-arm off spinner Krunal Pandya who played for Mumbai Indians in that IPL season where he bowled a 112.5 KMPH delivery to Marcus Stoinis, although he was not dismissed on that delivery but still it was a quicker one which can everyone’s attention.
- SHADAB KHAN (111 KMPH) –
The last player to feature in the top 5 of this list of the fastest balls is Shadab Khan, the Pakistani super-star bowled his fastest ever delivery of 111 KMPH to the English batting maestro Joe Root in a World Cup game and stunned him and showed the world what he is capable off in bowling which drew everyone’s attention.
