Some bowlers have mastered the art of bowling, by having what experts call a proper bowling action. After centuries of playing the game today in the modern era, there is no such thing called as weird bowling action. In today’s time if a bowling action is legal then it is considered to be a proper action.
It can be argued whether the success of some of the bowlers is because of their unusual actions. Here are some of the most unusual actions that have been seen in cricket history.
The legendary Sri Lankan pacer instantly caught everyone’s attention when he burst onto the scene with his low delivery release point and slingy action. His low action made him a serious bowler to face by the batsmen as his toe-crushing yorkers along with extreme pace made it very difficult for the batsmen to save their wicket. Malinga was very successful for every team he played be it his country Sri Lanka or his Indian Premier League franchise Mumbai Indians.
For Sri Lanka, in 84 T20I matches he took 107 wickets and in the IPL he is still the second-leading wicket-taker with 170 wickets to his name.
Kedar Jadhav is not just an ordinary part-timer by any means. With increasing tough competition within the Indian team Jadhav needed to add a second dimension to his game. Jadhav was an aggressive batsman but the 37-year-old did not limit himself to just batting. Jadhav tried his hand at bowling right arm off spin.
Similar to Malinga, Jadhav bowled with an extremely low delivery point making him a very economical bowler and a wicket-taker for the Indian side in ODIs. Jadhav only bowled in ODIs for India where he managed to take 27 wickets at an economy of just 5.16 RPO. In the same format, Jadhav managed to score more than 1300 runs with two centuries to his name.
Jasprit Bumrah since his IPL debut in 2013 has found great success bowling in different phases and formats of the game. The Indian star pacer has an unusual action that helps him in foxing some of the greatest players of this era.
Bumrah has a front-on action with a hyper extension arm similar to the former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar. His action makes it tough to understand him for the batsmen. His action puts a lot of stress on his spinal cord which makes him a candidate for injuries. Bumrah in IPL has 145 wickets in just 120 games. While playing for India Bumrah has found success in all three formats and India will hope he recovers from his injury quickly.
Sohail Tanvir
Sohail Tanvir emerged as someone having one of the most unusual actions ever seen. Tanvir bowled off the wrong foot and yet found success for both Pakistan and in the inaugural season of IPL for Rajasthan Royals. In the first season, he won the purple cap as he took 22 wickets in just 11 games.
Debashis Mohanty
Debashis Mohanty was one of the promising young bowlers for India in the 1990s in ODIs. He bowled with an open-chested action and had a dangerous in-swinger that got him a lot of success. Interestingly, ICC designed its logo for Cricket World Cup in 1999 inspired from his bowling action.
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