How to bowl the Carrom Ball "Slider"

After wreaking havoc with his Carrom ball “Doosra”, Ajantha Mendis has claimed that he is working on a new mystery ball. Could this be the Carrom ball Slider?? Here is how you can bowl the traditional leg-spinner’s Slider but using the Carrom ball grip.

Things You'll Need

A large hand with long and strong fingers
Plenty of practice, especially practice striking a carrom which strengthens your middle-finger
Continue to watch videos of Ajantha Mendis

Steps

1

A slider is a type of delivery bowled by a wrist spin bowler. On release the wrist and ring finger work to impart backspin (the ball is spinning in the direction of the bowler) on the ball, and therfore it is also called a back-spinning top spinner. Whereas the top-spinner will dip quickly and can bounce higher than a normal delivery, the slider does the opposite: it floats to a fuller length and bounces less than the batsman might expect.

2

To bowl the slider or back-spinning topspinner with the Carrom ball grip hold the ball with the seam facing the batsman and the middle-finger bent underneath the seam. The thumb should also grip the seam behind the ball. The index finger can either stay on the ball or can be held up. This visual shows the bowler’s hand as it should face the batsman.

3

At the time of the delivery the middle finger flicks the ball out (flicking the finger up and over the ball but slightly towards the bowler) with the thumb optionally imparting additional back spin but going underneath the ball. Essentially the ball is spinning in the direction of the bowler, not the batsman!

4

Practice this delivery with either the middle-finger imparting most of the back-spin on the ball like Ajantha Mendis or using the thumb in conjunction with the middle-finger essentially squeezing the ball.