In T20 cricket, those with a traditional bowling action are easier to pick. And those who have an unusual way of delivering the ball tend to be harder to hit because batsmen can’t premeditate and they also get less time to execute their shots.
Over the years, we have seen bowlers like Lasith Malinga, Sunil Narine, Ajantha Mendis have proven to be very difficult to face. Batsmen look to play unorthodox shots themselves and get out in the process. That’s why almost every T20 team at the moment is looking for such bowlers because by the time the batsmen get a hang of things, his four overs are finished.
But we must not forget that while such bowlers are different, they have their limitations. Unorthodox bowlers are almost never accurate. Only a traditional action allows a bowler to have enough control to land the ball consistently where he wants.
Not one bowler with a ‘strange’ bowling action has managed to replicate his T20 success in Test cricket. It simply doesn’t work like that in the longer formats.
But that doesn’t mean it isn’t an attractive option. Just look at the young Indian spinners in action this IPL.
In the match against Pune, we saw that when he was bowling to Steve Smith and MS Dhoni, he managed to bowl a few dot balls every over but also bowled boundary balls. He will have to work extremely hard to get accurate and on top of that, take great care of his body because his action puts a lot of strain on the shoulder, back and knee and the chances of Shivil getting injured are pretty high.
Even my team Kings XI Punjab has a bowler who falls into that ‘mystery’ category. KC Cariappa is in the Narine, Mendis mould in that he bowls with a straight arm to deliver off spinners and carom balls. He relies more on traditional off-spinners. Carom balls or leg cutters put a lot of strain on the fingers and that’s why those who haven’t practiced it enough tend to drag the ball down or bowl full tosses when attempting variations. Cariappa is yet to master the art of landing his other deliveries accurately and it is an inherently difficult task.
Pune spinner Murugan Ashwin also has a strange action because even though he is a leg-spinner, he bowls with a very straight arm. Which is why he tends to bowl a lot of short pitch balls.
Assessing these bowlers, I can’t help but feel they will find it tough to gain control. They can master one delivery at the most, be it the off spinner, leg spinner or googlies. When a bowler tries all three, mistakes are committed.
I have seen spinners Narine, Mendis and now Cariappa, Murugan, Shivil and only Narine has managed some consistency in his bowling. It shows how difficult the job is.
