Moments that changed cricket forever: Mystery spinners - bamboozling to greatness

West Indies spin legend Sonny Ramadhin also used an earlier form of the doosra in the fifties, although it wasn’t given the name then. The Indian spin quartet of Venkat, Prasanna, Bedi and Chandra ruled the roost in the sixties and early seventies, with Chandra haunting batting maestro Viv Richards with his guile.

In recent times, bowlers from the Indian subcontinent have been instrumental in reviving the mystique behind spin. Pakistan’s Saqlain Mushtaq was the first modern-day bowler widely credited with inventing the doosra - a delivery that moves in the opposite direction to the off-break. This mystery ball confused the best batsmen in the world at the time; even Sachin Tendulkar fell prey to it during the famous Chepauk Test in 1999. Soon, other spinners incorporated it into their arsenal – most notably, Muttiah Muralitharan, Harbhajan Singh and South Africa’s Johan Botha.

Saqlain also revolutionized the slow-bowling technique in modern times by developing another variation, called the teesra. Unlike his previous weapon, this one was a back-spinner, a common delivery used by many finger-spinners around the world. In this case, the bowler would not roll his fingers down the back of the ball at the point of delivery. Although the veteran Pakistani player came up with the name during his tenure in the now-defunct Indian Cricket League, his compatriot Saeed Ajmal claimed to have learned the art and used it successfully against England in 2012.

2008 witnessed the arrival of yet another man of mystery – Ajantha Mendis. The Sri Lankan tormented, teased, befuddled and bamboozled the much-vaunted Indian batting line up in the Asia Cup as well as in the three Tests that followed. He has been classified as a slow-medium bowler, but sends down a menagerie of googlies, off-breaks, leg-breaks, flippers and top-spinners. A delivery that castled Rahul Dravid was released with a flick of his middle finger; it turned from middle and hit the off-stump. It was christened as the carrom ball, and was later used by Mendis’s contemporaries Ravichandran Ashwin and West Indian Sunil Narine.

Mystery spinners thrive on variety, yet it is to be exercised with caution. Saqlain was guilty of overusing the doosra; in fact, he used it so much that it eventually became his stock ball, and once the mechanics of the delivery were de-constructed by batsmen, it became useless. Daniel Vettori’s arm ball, a classic weapon of left-arm orthodox spinners, is still difficult to pick, but he knows it could also be worked out by batsmen in time, so he uses it sparingly.

That’s why Mendis, after the initial successes, hasn’t been very effective. His deliveries have been played late, sometimes even off the pitch, as batsmen looked to counter his bag of tricks. The rate at which he has been taken for runs has risen quite considerably since his sensational debut, and despite a brief return to his old form, Mendis really doesn’t pose too much of a threat any more.

Whether the shroud of mystery encompassing these bowlers will remain impenetrable or not, only time can tell. But their subtle skills have only enhanced the beauty of the grand old game. For, they continue to enthral fans, bamboozling them on the way to greatness.

Read more about such events which altered the way cricket was played over the years - The moments that changed cricket forever.