This article compares his switch-hitting to many other sports pioneering moments.
Interestingly it considers Muralitharan's Doosra as another.
Which brings us to the similarities between the doosra and switch- hitting.
- Both have dubious origins.
- Doosra and switch-hitting have divided cricket followers.
- Their legality is debatable.
- The Doosra survives as the ICC 'bend' its rules.
- Similarly, switch-hitting needs ICC 'helping hand' to gain respectability.
Are there more similarities?
Technorati Tags doosra,switch-hitting
4 comments:
I think there is one major differrence though. Over the years the Doosra has been mastered by many off spinners. Harbhajan, Saqlain.....(by the way i think Saqlain was the first exponent of this delivery. remember him using it in Singapore in 1996). I dont think this reverse hoick can be mastered by anyone. Pieterson hit a six the other day over long off using this shot. That is an incredible shot. I cant think of anybody else doing the same in world cricket today. By the way i remember Sachin reverse hoicking Kumara Dharmasena one bounce over point in the Mumbai Test of 1997. But he did that without changing the position of his hands. I think the batsmen does gain an unfair advantage when he changes the position of his hands.
Saqlain was the one who introduced the doosra to world cricket, not Murali. In fact Murali even credits Saqlain for inventing this delivery.
U r right Apurv, Saqlain started using it in 1996.
Though not comparable, both the doosra and this switch hit are pioneering moments. As is the googly which I believe was introduced by Abul Qadir.
The reverse sweep has been there for ages but as Apurv points out it doesn't involve the grip / stance change as KP's shot does.
But one Jonty Rhodes used to play the reverse sweep by changing the grip and the stance - he did it more than once and I remember the commentators saying that he esentially becomes a left hander when he does it.
So KP hasn't invented the method, just that he has created a new shot using the same method.
Q, The googly was invented by Bernard Bosanquet, back at the turn of the last century! Abdul Qadir was a fine exponent of it, but not the inventor.
Thanks Suave... I didn't know who was the inventor, thats why I said "I believe" :-).. i hadnt seen anyone bowl it before Qadir..
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