The Teesra, also known as the Jalebi , is a particular type of delivery by an off-spin bowler in the sport of

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

, which renowned off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq said he had invented. However, upon closer inspection, the ball is simply an orthodox backspinner, a very common delivery that has been bowled by finger spinners as long as cricket has been played. The delivery was renamed in the Indian Cricket League by Saqlain Mushtaq. At that time Saqlain played for the

Lahore Badshahs Lahore Badshahs ( ur, ) was one of the nine teams that competed in the 2008 and 2008/09 competition of the defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL). The captain was former Pakistani captain and batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq. The team made its ICL debut on ...

. The first person to face the teesra or jalebi was

Russel Arnold Russel Premakumaran Arnold (Tamil: ரசல் பிரேமகுமரன் ஆனோல்ட், born 25 October 1973), or Russel Arnold, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer of Tamil descent, who played all forms of the game. He played a ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

when he was correctly given LBW by the

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per' ...

. He was also the first person to get out at the hands of the teesra. He got out the fourth time a teesra had ever been bowled. The teesra made the news in the build-up to the first Test between

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

in 2012, when

Saeed Ajmal Saeed Ajmal SI (Punjabi, ; born 14 October 1977) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer, who played all forms of the game. He is a right-arm off-spin bowler who bats right handed. At domestic level in Pakistan he represented Fais ...

claimed he would introduce the delivery into his repertoire.

took a match haul of 10 for 97 and became the fifth bowler to pick up seven leg before wicket dismissals in a match.

The delivery

The delivery is similar to a slider (which is used by a

wrist spin Wrist spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball. The other spinning technique, usually used to ...

ner). The ball is held by an off-spinner in his normal action but instead of twisting the arm at the point of the delivery, the bowler simply does roll his fingers down the back of the ball. The delivery looks like it will turn a lot but it doesn't turn at all. This is a good way of deceiving the batsman.

The name

The name ''teesra'' is commonly used by Saqlain Mushtaq. It originated from an older delivery, the doosra which meant the "other one" or "second one" in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

, and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' jalebi ''Jalebi'' (, , , Urdu: جلیبی‎, , , si, පැණි වළලු, ), is a popular sweet snack in south and west Asia, Africa, and Mauritius. It goes by many names, including ''jilapi'', ''zelepi'','' jilebi'', '' jilipi'', ''zulbia'', ...

was introduced by commentators as soon as the delivery was bowled. A jalebi is a sweet commonly eaten in

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, In ...

. However the name "backspinner" is by far the more common name that describes accurately the spin on the ball as it travels through the air.

Usage

So far this delivery had been used for well over a hundred years, but Saqlain stated that the teesra was still a work in progress and that he wanted to hone the delivery so that the batsman became even more confused about where the ball was going to spin to and whether it would spin at all.

claimed to have learned this art and used it occasionally in the 2011 World Cup and after.

References

{{Reflist Bowling (cricket) Cricket terminology Urdu-language words and phrases