Watch: Bowling great Muttiah Muralitharan, the legality of whose bowling action – especially the ‘doosra’ variation – was questioned by certain quarters throughout his playing career, once featured in a television documentary to clear the air over his unique delivery style.
Broadcast on the ESPN channel in 2004, and titled ‘The Cricket Show’, the documentary had presenter Ravi Shastri breaking down Muralitharan’s bowling action in an attempt to justify its legality, including a segment in which he bowled with a brace on. Muralitharan, who was called for throwing by umpires on multiple occasions, has been the subject of several research publications through his playing career. The ICC tweaked its laws of the game in 2005, allowing the extent of the arm’s straightening to be 15 degrees, rendering Muralitharan’s action legitimate, after an investigation revealed that the vast majority of bowlers active in cricket at the time were also bowling with an illegal amount of flex.
In the video, Shastri first explained how Muralitharan’s arm has a natural, outward bent, with his action consequently giving the “illusion” of a jerk. He continued to explain how his wrists and shoulders are unnaturally flexible too.
Shastri was then joined by an orthopaedician, who further delved into the mysteries of Muralitharan’s arm, elaborating on the shoulder, which he explained helps with the arm’s unnatural “external rotation”.
To further prove that his bent arm stays within permissible limits, Muralitharan proceeded to bowl with a 35cm-long customised arm brace, made up of heat-moulded plastic and containing steel rods. He delivered four of his variations – off-spin, flipper, doosra and the top-spin – with the brace on.
Muralitharan then went on to bowl a few deliveries at former Australia opener Michael Slater, who mentions that, across his battles with the “genius” off-spinner in international cricket, he “never ever thought he was a chucker”, saying “it was always an optical illusion”.
Muralitharan, who was then the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket history, went on to finish his career with 800 Test wickets in 133 games.
