Gujarat left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai, who says he prefers bowling from around the wicket to the right-handers, has an unusual run-up when doing it.
He begins from over the wicket, cuts through the umpire and the stumps, has a bit of a jump and bowls from closer to the return crease. For a left-arm spinner, his jump is exaggerated.
At the Salem Cricket Foundation (SCF) ground on Wednesday, he claimed six TNCA President’s XI wickets in a row on day two of the Group-B match in the third round of the Buchi Babu Memorial All India invitational cricket tournament. He had four wickets (all right-handers) bowling from around the wicket.
Speaking about his run-up, he said it helps him get as side-on as possible, which in turn enables him to better transfer his body weight into getting the ball to sharply lift off the surface.
“That (run-up) helps me to get into a better position at the time of jump and get side-on better. Because of that (getting as side-on as possible), I can use my body better. I can transfer my body weight better, so that I can get that nip (sharp lift) of the ball. I don’t use a lot of shoulder. I try and bowl from fingers and use my body weight,” he said after the day’s play.
On a pitch that offers bounce, the “nip” he tries to get makes his bowling especially threatening.
For instance, he had a delivery turn and sharply spring off the surface to get TNCA President’s XI opener Radhakrishnan nick off to the keeper.
On a similar pitch back in January, he troubled Karnataka with close-in fielders from around the wicket in his seven for 42 in Ahmedabad on a fourth-day pitch that offered turn and sharp bounce in the Ranji Trophy.
Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, and Manish Pandey were his notable victims. He got five of his seven wickets bowling from around the wicket. All five were right-handers. Chasing 110, Karnataka was bowled out for 103.
In fact, Karnataka had gotten to 50 for no loss within ten overs, when Siddharth picked up six wickets in a row.
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