Left-arm orthodox spin
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In the sport of cricket, left-arm orthodox spin is the equivalent of off spin bowling, but bowled with the left hand. As a result, the ball spins away from a right-handed batsman, like leg spin. It is usually considered to be harder for a right-handed batsman to play against than off spin, but easier to bat against than leg spin due to the (generally) smaller repertoire of delivery types.
Left arm spin is one of the more challenging arts of cricket because it requires long hours of practice to get the right line. The flight, dip, sharp turn, and drift in the air are potent weapons of a left arm spin bowler. The major variations of a left arm spinner are mainly the top spinner, the arm ball, and the left arm spinners version of a doosra. The Chinaman (left arm bowlers' mirror image of the right armers' leg break) is also a rare variation, especially potent when mixed up with the googly—a great exponent of this was Sir Garfield Sobers of the West Indies. Greater attacking depth can be achieved with the help of variation of lengths in spin. Left arm orthodox spinners are a complete mirror image of right arm off spinners.
Examples of current left-arm orthodox spinners are:
- Daniel Vettori, a member of the New Zealand cricket team
- Ashley Giles, a member of the England cricket team
- Mohammad Rafique, a member of the Bangladesh cricket team
- Murali Karthik, a member of the Indian cricket team
- Ray Price, a member of the Zimbabwe cricket team
- Nicky Boje, a member of the South African cricket team
- Enamul Haque Jr., a member of the Bangladesh cricket team
- Yuvraj Singh, a member of the Indian cricket team
- Darren Lehmann, a member of the Australian cricket team
Historic left-arm orthodox spinners include: