A Guide to Different Types of Spinners in Cricket

Spin bowling is the technique that makes the batsmen confused about where to hit the cricket shots—in this bowlers use their fingers and wrists mainly to generate the bounce, dip and spin to the batsmen on the pitch of the cricket ground. Spinners in cricket have an impactful role when they get the perfect pitch to spin the ball and make the batsmen lose their wicket. Since spin bowling goes away from batsmen or sometimes towards the bodies of the batsmen, it gets tricky for batsmen and they eventually get out. The bowlers who do spin bowling are usually at the speed range of 70-90 kmph (45-55mph).

In addition, spinners in cricket play a very crucial role and they help the team get the important wickets at the right time. Types of spin bowlers in cricket have many options of variations in different spin bowling techniques that help them to take the wickets easily. Plus spinners can hold the drift and speed of the ball as per the pitch condition and that makes the batsmen have less edge over spinners to play the shots freely. Though, there are many types of spin bowlers in cricket that have their techniques and skills. Here we will explore the Different Types of Spinners in Cricket in detail. Let’s get started.

Main Types of Spinners

There Are Two Main Types of Spinners
1. Finger Spinners – Off-spinners
2. Wrist Spinners – Leg spinners

Finger Spinners – Off-spinners

1. Right-arm off-break spinner: This is one of the types of finger spinners in cricket. The right arm off break spinner uses the right arm and finger to bowl producing some amount of spinning. This type of spin bowling in front of the right-hand batsman turns right into their bodies. But when it comes to left-hand batsmen, the ball gets turned in the opposite direction, right to left. Hence this type of finger spin bowler is known as the Right-arm off-break spinner. It requires only fingers to spin the ball and does not involve the usage of the wrist. 
2. Left-arm orthodox spinner: This is another type of Finger spinner in cricket. The left-arm orthodox spinner uses the left arm and finger to bowl producing some amount of rotation. This type of bowling in front of left-hand batsmen turns right into their bodies. But when it comes to right-hand batsmen, the ball gets turned in the opposite direction, right to left. Hence this type of finger spin bowler is known as the Left-arm orthodox spinner. It requires only fingers to spin and pace the ball and does not involve the usage of the wrist.

Wrist Spinners – Leg spinners

1. Right-arm leg-break spinner: This is a type of wrist spinner in Cricket. The Right-arm leg-break spinner uses the right-hand wrist to bowl and produces the spinning in the bowling. This type of spin bowling in front of left-hand batsmen turns right into their bodies. But when it comes to right-hand batsmen, the ball gets turned in the opposite direction, right to left. Hence this type of wrist spin bowler is known as the Right-arm leg-break spinner. It requires only the wrist to spin the ball and does not involve the usage of the fingers except to hold the ball. 
2. Left-arm Chinaman spinner: This is another and very rare type of wrist spinner in cricket. The Left-arm chinaman spinner uses the left-hand wrist to bowl and produces the spinning in the bowling. This type of spin bowling in front of right-hand batsmen turns right into their bodies. But when it comes to left-hand batsmen, the ball gets turned in the opposite direction, right to left. Hence this type of wrist spin bowler is known as the left-arm Chinaman spinner. It requires only the wrist to spin the ball and does not involve the usage of the fingers except to hold the ball.

Variations and Deceptions

• Leg-spin Variations

1. Googly: This Googly is used by the leg spinners to make the left-hand batsman slip the ball from them in the opposite direction. Whereas for right-hand batsmen, the googly bowl comes towards them after the bowler pitches the ball. 
2. Top Spinners: These variations of leg spinners who are known as top spinners are the ones who generate extra dip, bounce and spin in their bowling to the batsmen. 
3. Slider: The slider leg spin delivery gets away in the opposite direction from the batsmen. It involves the scrambled seam when bowling. 
4. Flipper: The leg spinner bowler uses the fingers and squeezes them to generate a backspin. Moreover, flipper deliveries are regarded as very difficult to play for batsmen. 

• Off-spin Variations

1. Doosra: This variation of off-spin bowling is no longer used by spinners. It is somewhere similar to the leg-spin variations googly. Whenever the bowler uses the Doosra variation in their bowling the ball gets deviated in the opposite direction for right-hand batsmen and comes towards the left-hand batsman with extra bounce and dip. 
2. Carrom Ball: There is no doubt that a Carrom ball by off spinners is very difficult bowling and the batsman gets confused on where to hit the shot with these deliveries. The bowler grips the ball between their thumb, forefinger, and middle finger. And they bowl a carrom ball just the way a disc is flicked on a carrom board. Hence, these balls go straight or spin or come toward the batsmen. Or in some cases, it goes away from batsmen based on the grip.  
3. Arm-Ball: The arm ball by the off-spinner is the bowl where its direction gets deviated from batsmen with decreased spin and bounce.
4. Under Cutter: The bowler makes his palm towards the sky direction and bowls the undercutter delivery. These types of off-spin variations have very less spin and more drift. Hence, it is used on very rare occasions. 

Impact on the Game

Spinners have a variety of impact on the game of cricket. They are as follows:

• Variety and Control: spin bowlers have a wide range of variations to try in front of different conditions and batsmen in cricket. Some of the varieties is spin bowling are
  leg-spin and off-spin. In this there are famously used variations such as the carrom ball, googly and the doosra are used by spinners in cricket to control the run rate and get the wickets.
• Getting Wickets in Middle Overs: The wickets in the middle over are crucial in any format of cricket. Spinners have a wide role in taking vital wickets in the middle of the cricket game. They have the quality to make the batsmen score big shots by deviating the balls with variations and eventually, they get caught and lose their wickets. Also, spinners put the batsmen under pressure to score big boundaries and this creates pressure on the opposition team. 
• Restricting the Scoring Rate: Spinners are great when it comes to putting pressure and slowing the run rate of the opposition team. With the use of different types of spinners and the variations available in spin bowling, it is easy to trap the batsmen and make them score very less runs.

Also Read – 5 Top Left Handed Bowlers in IPL History

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