5 Bowling actions we tried in our childhood

2. Harbhajan Singh

Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh had made his debut at the age of 17 in a Test against Australia in 1998 in Bengaluru. He was embroiled in a huge controversy early on in his career due to the legality of his bowling action coming under scrutiny. He had to get his action rectified before he was cleared to bowl in international cricket.

His breakthrough series came in 2001 against Australia at home where he picked 32 wickets in 3 Test matches, including the first-ever hat-trick for India in Tests and important contribution in that historic win in Kolkata Test, which is more famous for VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. As Anil Kumble’s career started to wind up in the late 2000s, Harbhajan became the lynchpin of the Indian spin attack, mentoring youngsters like Piyush Chawla, Murali Kartik, and others.

His action began with a skip, jump, and twisting of arms in a way to get maximum momentum into spinning his ball. Recently, even Virat Kohli copied Harbhajan’s action in front of the man himself before the start of a match, much to the bowlers’ amusement. Harbhajan picked 417 Test, 25 T20I and 269 ODI wickets for India from 1998-2016.