Millions love cricket in India. Indeed, becoming a cricket star is one of the surest pathways to becoming a household darling in India.
Interestingly, the game pulls thousands of punters, who like those who engage in crypto mma betting, enjoy the thrill of staking on top cricket fixtures.
Admittedly, the history of cricket is adorned with some spectacular spin bowlers we could never get enough of. In this article, we will learn six legendary spin bowlers who took the game to another level.
Is there anything to be said about this man that hasn’t already been said? Muriah Muralitharan is arguably the greatest cricketer to have ever played the game. The Indian is the player with the most wickets in international cricket.
Muralitharan is the first player to reach 1,000 combined wickets in the Tests and ODIs. He had a combined 1,334 in both categories. Muralitharan achieved this feat through his trademark technique, “wrist spinning off-spinning.”
Merely knowing it was Muriah Muralithran running towards you with the ball is intimidating. Additionally, the probability that he’d throw an undefendable ball is on the high side. The fact that he could alternate through different styles at will didn’t make things easier for the helpless batters.
Shane Warne is widely regarded as one of the greatest players to ever played the game, mainly due to his spin-bowling prowess.
He’s a leg spinner, and batters tremble even before he bowls his dangerous ball. Shane Warne is a man batters never joked with, and even with that, he still made many top-level ones look like amateurs.
Therefore, it’s not shocking that he’s the man that has scored the second most wickets in cricket history, only behind Muttiah Murilatharan. In 145 test matches, he scored a whopping 708 wickets with a 25.43 bowling average. He added 293 in ODI, at an average of 25.73.
If you’re still trying to figure out how good this man was, perhaps learning that he’s the man behind the infamous “ball of the century” can help.
He bowled the leg spin that completely deceived Mike Gatling at Old Trafford. Gatling seemed to be in a state of confusion for some moment before accepting reality.
All the other players on this list are retired, and it’s only fair to recognize the best active bowl spinner.
Ravichandran Ashwin plays for India internationally, Tamil Nadu domestically, and Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. He’s an all-rounder, lethal in batting, but more threatening with the ball in his hand.
He’s the fastest Indian to reach 450 test Wickets. Ashwin has destroyed many batters’ dreams, and the chances are high that he’d still do so for many others.
He’s scored over 600 wickets in Tests and ODIs, and the numbers will definitely get higher.
Ashwin has a bowling average of 24.05 in Tests and 33.49 in ODIs.
Many batters adopt an existing bowling style and perfect it. Only a few make modifications and stick to the art when it’s becoming a dying breed.
Saqlain Mushtaq was a significant part of why spin bowling is still in vogue.
He pioneered the “doosra,” famously used by bowlers like Muriah Muralitharan and Shoaib Malik. The doosra involved him bowling an off-spinner similar to a leg break, but the ball will spin from the leg side to the off side instead.
Saqlain didn’t only invent the doosra; he also used unusual techniques like the “Teesra” and the arm ball.
His wicket haul isn’t overly impressive, but his influence on the bowling art is massive. He has 496 wickets in 218 matches in Tests and ODIs. His bowling average at Tests was 29.83, and 21.78 in ODIs.
Spin bowlers are known for controlling the ball’s trajectory using their powerful spins. For Anil Kumbe, he had other ways to make it happen without dramatic rotation.
He relies on his pace, accuracy, and bounce effect to deal damage to unsuspecting batters.
Ani Kumbe is one of the two players to have ever dismissed all ten batters in a Test match innings. He sits second beside Muralitharan and Shane Warne as the players with the most international wickets in history.
Anil Kumble has 619 from 132 matches in Test, at a 29.65 average, and 337 from 271 games in ODIs and a 30.89 average.
The former English cricketer Graeme Swann was known to be one of the right-arm bowlers who became popular for his spin bowlers.
He was known to be a fast scorer scoring at least 1000 runs. And he was able to play the 3 formats in the cricket game.
Unlike other successful cricketers, Graeme Swann never had many opportunities in international matches in his early days. He made his first internal debut in 2000, playing for England against South Africa in the One Day International (ODI) match but vanished afterward.
Meanwhile, Graeme Swann has been playing for his domestic team, Northamptonshire, where for he stayed and polished his skills.
In 2008, Graeme Swan appeared in the English national team touring Sri Lanka whilst taking on a spot as the team’s second spin bowler.
In 2009, Graeme Swann worked on his craft beautifully. He made many appearances on the national team and started earning accolades for himself.
Graeme Swann became popular for being the first English spin bowler to accumulate 50 wickets in one calendar year and 10 wickets in a match. Now he is retired and living the memories of his glory days.
The intense mind game that happens between bowlers and batters is one of the reasons that make the sport intriguing to watch.
Cricket has seen many phenomenal spin bowlers, and many are still on their way to making history. These five players are the best spin bowlers the game has ever seen.
