28 July,2009 08:05 AM IST | | Sanjjeev K Samyal
Aussies, including Warne, want the doosra out, but SA off-spinner Johan Botha who has been banned from bowling the doosra by ICC experts feels Mallett & Co's verdict is biased
Known for their aversion to the doosra, the Australians seem determined to take the off-spinner's 'other one' out of the game. At a 'Spin Summit' held in Brisbane last month, the spin gurus of Australia, including Shane Warne, unanimously decided against teaching off-spinners in their country the art of bowling the 'doosra'. Johan Botha wonders why the Aussies are making such an issue out of the doosra. pic/Getty imagesu00a0
Never legitimate
Former Australia off-spinner Ashley Mallett said doosra can never be a legitimate delivery as it cannot be bowled by a finger-spinner without 'chucking'.
South African off-spinner Johan Botha who has been banned from bowling the doosra by the International Cricket Council experts, felt Mallett & Co's verdict had a strong Aussie bias. "It's all the Aussies complaining.
Eleven guys have been reported over the years and all have been against Australia. The 'doosra' does make the game interesting. It can definitely be bowled without chucking. Harbhajan Singh has done it and is still doing it legally," Botha told MiD DAY from Port Elizabeth yesterday.
In April this year, Botha was warned against bowling doosra, when his delivery was ruled illegal by the ICC during the one-day series against Australia. Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal was also reported by the umpires while bowling a doosra during the second ODI against Australia in Dubai in April.
Muttiah Muralitharan, Harbhajan and Pakistan's Shoaib Malik's have also been under ICC's scrutiny for their doosras during their careers.
Botha did not agree with the Aussie spin brains who are averse to their youngsters learning to bowl the doosra.
"It can be legally bowled and of course it must be coached," said Botha.
Botha's doosra was measured at 26.7 degrees by the ICC appointed biomechanist, Bruce Elliott, and has been banned until the bowler can prove he can deliver 'the other one' at a flexion limit of less than 15 degrees.
As someone who has been under scrutiny for bowling the doosra, Botha described his own experience as: "It has been tough at times".
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Hopeful
He hasn't given up hope of being cleared to bowl it at the international level again. "If it will still be legal in a few months, I'll work on it to bowl it again," South Africa's Twenty20 vice-captain said.
Some see this as tactics by the Australians to build pressure on the ICC to ban the delivery. Botha said it would be a big handicap for the off-spinners if the doosra was taken out of the game. "It will affect us hugely.
It's like telling the leggies they can't bowl googlies. I'm not sure what the solution is, but the rules must not all of a sudden get changed again when Murali retires," he said.
