Slip this variation into your off spin toolkit.

Let’s talk about the problem of the doosra. It’s controversial. Some people think you can’t bowl it without chucking. It’s never been mastered by more than a handful of players. It’s very, very hard to turn it accurately. Why would any mere mortal cricketer try it?

Because it’s mysterious and powerful.

Because you love a challenge.

And if you spend time on getting it right, you will gain the edge as a spinner for you and your cricket team. All by making the ball spin the other way.

The value of doosra

Is it worth learning a doosra?

It makes sense that finger spinners would hunt for a ball that turns the other way. Leg spinners have been able to turn the ball both ways as standard for decades. It give you more ability to deceive batsman and take wickets.

(For that is what a doosra is, a ball from a finger spinner that turns in the opposite direction. For example away from the right handed batsman.)

Leg spinners have also found it easier to learn a googly than off spinners have to learn a doosra. It’s never become a standard variation despite being around for many years.

Why do most spinners leave the doosra alone?

I think for most, the effort is not worth the reward.

It takes a lot of practice to get it to turn and land in the right place.

There’s no standard advice on how to bowl a doosra. There are a dozen methods online and probably more happening in various Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan street and fields that we don’t know about.

And even if you do master it, you might find you throw it. So you have wasted your time.

No wonder, with so few seriously bowling the ball at every level, the doosra remains a marvellously challenging mystery ball.

How to bowl a doosra

Let’s say you still want to give it a go.

Let’s say you still like your lips at the prospect of fooling a batsman with the other one.

Awesome!

Step zero is simple: get ready for a lot of practice.

Get yourself on PitchVision and start bowling. Use target bowling in nets, bowl at batsmen in games, bowl at willing passers-by in the street.

To give yourself a ball-park figure for starting success:

• Turn the ball at least 1 degree.
• Land the ball on target at least 30% of the time.

At this point, you might be asking “but, how do I bowl it?”

While there is plenty of doosra advice, the real answer is just keep trying. The ball has very little history of success so the page in the coaching book is unwritten.

You have a chance to find your way.

You can start by flicking it out of your hand, then progress to overarm throws and finally bowling. You might find you don’t even need those stages and you can get the ball out all right at the first go. Whatever it takes, it’s going to take plenty of deliveries to get good at it.

Also remember that, while important, the technique is nothing without being able to use it against a batsman in a game. This is especially true when it’s a crunch moment. Your ultimate aim to to be confident to turn to a doosra even when the opposition need two from the last ball in the Grand Final.

That’s cricket mastery.