India vs England 2nd Test: The illusion of an away-curler, the lateness of the inward movement, and the ideal pace to beat any last-minute adjustments sealed Sharma’s fate.
It was a reverse-swinging beauty that was set-up with the crafty wobble-ball and it knocked out the well-set Indian opener Rohit Sharma’s stumps. It was the 44th over of the innings and Sharma was cruising on 83. Anderson first unleashed the wobble ball; it was pushed in and even as Sharma set up to cover the angle, it shaped away to threaten the edge. But it was nothing in comparison to what followed. The seam was pointing towards the slips, the shiny side was inside, to the leg side, and he pushed this one away from the batsman. For all purposes, it seemed like shaping away but it jagged back in sharply right at the end to comprehensively beat Sharma. The illusion of an away-curler, the lateness of the inward movement, and the ideal pace to beat any last-minute adjustments sealed Sharma’s fate. As standalone deliveries, both were special but as a combo, you couldn’t have found a deadlier cocktail.
What’s special about Anderson’s reverse?
Often, in modern-day cricket, bowlers take the easier route to reverse. If they want to reverse it in, they place the shiny side inside, on the leg side, and then actively strive to push the ball in. It tails in from the hand and then further in with the shiny side. Since they get enough pointers, good batsmen tackle this ball by taking care not to bring the front foot across.
Anderson does the old-school way. To reverse the ball in, he will grip and release it like an outswinger. The seam points towards the slip, the grip too is the same as he uses for the outswinger – the index finger on the seam and the middle finger on the leathery surface of the ball, and he will try to push it out.