The Doosra: The Off-Spinner's Most Controversial Delivery
The doosra — the off-spinner's delivery that turns the opposite way (leg side) instead of the expected off side — its invention by Saqlain Mushtaq, the biomechanical challenge of bowling it legally (nearly all doosras involve wrist flexion close to the ICC's 15-degree elbow-flex limit), Muttiah Muralitharan's related controversy, which spinners have used it effectively, and why it remains rare at international level.
What the Doosra Is and How It Works
The doosra (Urdu/Hindi for 'the other one') is an off-spinner's delivery that turns from the leg side to the off side — the opposite direction from an off-spinner's standard delivery (which turns from off side to leg side for a right-handed batsman). To achieve this opposite turn, the bowler must change the ball's rotational direction at the point of release — spinning the ball with the wrist's back of the hand facing the batsman rather than the front of the hand. This requires the wrist to rotate in a fundamentally different direction from the standard off-spin grip, which in biomechanical terms requires the elbow to flex significantly at the point of delivery to achieve the necessary wrist position.
The ICC's bowling action law (Law 24.3) permits a maximum of 15 degrees of elbow flexion (straightening) during the delivery stride — a concession to the fact that most fast bowlers naturally flex their elbow slightly. Bowling the doosra typically requires elbow flexion well above 15 degrees to achieve the required wrist position — meaning the doosra, as typically bowled, involves a 'throwing' action that is technically illegal under the ICC's definition. This is not a contested opinion — biomechanical analysis of virtually every documented doosra delivery finds elbow flexion above the 15-degree threshold. The ICC has acknowledged this and has essentially accepted that the doosra cannot be bowled legally by most bowlers.
Saqlain Mushtaq's Invention and Muralitharan's Connection
Saqlain Mushtaq, Pakistan's off-spinner, is credited with inventing and developing the doosra in the mid-1990s. Saqlain's doosra mystified batsmen throughout his career because it appeared (from a standard off-spinner's action) to turn the wrong way. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka), who bowled with an unusual bowling action throughout his career (his 'chest-on' action with a permanently bent elbow from a childhood condition meant his standard off-spin was itself suspected of exceeding the flexion limit before ICC resolved the question), also developed a doosra variant. Muralitharan's bowling action was tested multiple times by ICC — each time his action was found legal within the 15-degree threshold, though controversy persisted.
Why the Doosra Is Rare at International Level
Post-2004, when ICC tightened bowling action regulations and began systematic biomechanical testing of suspected bowlers, the doosra effectively disappeared from international cricket at its previous prevalence. Spinners whose actions were tested and found to exceed 15 degrees were required to remodel their actions. Many off-spinners who had used the doosra successfully (Danish Kaneria, Shoaib Malik) either abandoned it or saw their effectiveness reduced when testing scrutiny increased. The delivery remains theoretically possible — and a few spinners attempt it in domestic cricket — but at international level, where bowling actions are subject to testing if reported by umpires, the doosra is extremely rare because the biomechanical demands appear to make legal bowling of the delivery nearly impossible.
Frequently asked questions
Has any bowler been permanently banned for an illegal action?
No bowler has been permanently banned from cricket specifically for an illegal bowling action. The ICC's process is remediation: if a bowler's action is reported and tested and found to exceed 15 degrees of elbow flexion, they receive a suspension from bowling internationally until they can demonstrate a remodelled legal action. The suspension is lifted when independent biomechanical testing confirms the remodelled action is within the 15-degree limit. Several bowlers have returned successfully after remodelling (Shoaib Malik, Danish Kaneria at various points), while others have found that remodelling degrades their effectiveness and effectively ended their international careers without a formal ban.
Can umpires call a no-ball for an illegal action during a match?
Under current ICC playing conditions, on-field umpires do not call no-balls for suspected illegal actions during a match — this is handled through the reporting and testing process after the match. However, umpires can report a bowler to the match referee if they suspect an illegal action; the match referee then initiates the ICC's investigation and testing procedure. This means a bowler with a suspected illegal action continues bowling during the match itself, with any investigation and sanctions applied to future matches, not retroactively to the match where it was reported.
Is the 15-degree limit for elbow flexion considered generous or strict?
The 15-degree limit is considered quite generous compared to the zero-tolerance standard that existed in cricket's earlier Laws. Before 2000, the laws theoretically required a fully straight arm at delivery — any elbow bend was illegal. The 15-degree threshold was introduced after biomechanical research found that the human eye cannot detect elbow flexion below approximately 15 degrees during a fast delivery, and that most bowlers (including uncontroversial ones) flexed their elbows somewhat at delivery. The 15-degree standard was intended to accommodate normal human biomechanics while still providing a threshold above which the delivery crosses into 'throwing' rather than 'bowling.' Debate continues about whether 15 degrees is the right threshold, with some biomechanists arguing it should be lower.