00:00In a delivery so deceptive it leaves even the best batters clueless.
00:03A ball that looks like an off-brake but spins the other way.
00:06This is the Dusra, the other one.
00:09A mystery ball that revolutionized cricket.
00:11But how did it come to be and why does it spark so much debate?
00:15Let's dive into the story of the Dusra.
00:17Back in the 1990s, a young Pakistani spinner named Saklain Mushtaq changed spin bowling forever.
00:24While some say domestic cricketer Prince Aslam Khan first invented the Dusra,
00:28it was Saklain who perfected it and brought it to the world stage.
00:32The name Dusra, meaning the second one in Urdu, came from wicketkeeper Moin Khan,
00:37who'd shout it from behind the stumps to signal Saklain's surprise delivery.
00:41Commentator Tony Greig heard it on the stump mic and after the match he asked Saklain about it.
00:46That cemented the term in cricket's dictionary.
00:48So what makes the Dusra so special?
00:51Unlike a traditional off-brake which spins from off to leg for a right-handed batter,
00:55the Dusra spins from leg to off, almost like a leg spinner's googly.
01:00The secret is all in the wrist.
01:02The bowler locks the wrist, rotates it so the back of the hand faces square leg,
01:06and then uses the index and ring fingers to get that spin,
01:10delivered with a subtle elbow bend.
01:12But here's the catch.
01:13It has to stay within the ICC's 15-degree limit to be legal.
01:17Mastering the Dusra isn't easy.
01:19Saklain's version was nearly impossible to pick,
01:22while Sri Lanka's Mutia Muralitharan used his famously flexible wrist to make it deadly.
01:27Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal even turned it into his go-to ball,
01:31leaving batters totally confused and limited overs cricket.
01:34As Muralitharan himself once said,
01:36The Dusra took me 18 months to perfect.
01:38You need patience and strong wrists.
01:40But the Dusra came with drama.
01:42Its unique action got people talking,
01:44with critics saying it's impossible to bowl legally.
01:46In 2004, Muralitharan's Dusra was reported for illegal elbow flexion during Sri Lanka's tour of Australia.
01:54Tests showed he straightened his arm up to 10 degrees above the ICC's 5-degree limit at the time.
01:59He was briefly banned, but the ICC later relaxed the rule to 15 degrees,
02:04after discovering even bowlers like Glenn McGrath bent their arms more than anyone realized.
02:09Other Dusra bowlers came under fire too.
02:11Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal and South Africa's Johan Botha were reported,
02:16and Botha was banned from bowling it in 2009.
02:19Cricket Australia even decided not to teach the Dusra, calling it too risky.
02:23But bowlers like India's Harbidjan Singh and England's Moeen Ali kept it alive,
02:28proving it could be bowled legally with the right technique.
02:31As Saeed Ajmal said,
02:33The Dusra is my weapon.
02:35I worked hard to keep it legal and it's fair.
02:37Today, the Dusra remains a rare but powerful weapon.
02:40Fewer bowlers use it now due to its difficulty and all the scrutiny,
02:44but its impact can't be denied.
02:46It forced batters to rethink their game,
02:49inspired a new wave of spinners,
02:50and changed cricket's laws forever.
02:53From Suclane's invention to Murrila Theron's mastery,
02:56the Dusra is proof of how creative and daring spin bowling can be.
03:00The Dusra is more than just a delivery.
03:02It's a symbol of cricket's evolution.
03:04A ball that spins one way but tells a story that goes the other.
03:08What's next for spin bowling?
03:10Only time will tell.
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