A history of mystery: the Sri Lankan spin production line that just keeps producing
The pioneering spirit that typifies Sri Lankan cricket extends to all types of players, be it the iconic slinging action of pace bowler Lasith Malinga or the swashbuckling top-order batting style of Sanath Jayasuriya. However, there is no better example of this characteristic than their seemingly endless production line of exotic and often mysterious spin bowlers.
It’s hard to know exactly how or why Sri Lanka produces so many expressive and interesting spinners while other arguably much bigger, and certainly better resourced, cricketing nations offer less of that type of bowler and, often, nothing even close in terms of ingenuity.
Perhaps the relative lack of resources in Sri Lankan cricket encourages players and selectors to favour innovation as a tool.
Whatever the real reasons, looking through the history of Sri Lankan cricket, it is clear that there is a bloodline of hyper-inventive spinners leading from the inimitable Muttiah Muralitharan (50), to the true mystery spin of Ajantha Mendis (37), right down to today’s World Cup stars Hasaranga and Theekshana. They are spinners who all rely on variety and deception to an exceptional degree.
The term 'mystery spinner' is thrown around a bit. It is a slightly vague term that refers to a spin bowler who does not heavily rely on a single stock delivery and does not fall easily into one of the classical categories of left/right-arm finger or wrist spin. In what follows, I won't agonize over the best definition of what it means to be a mystery spinner and will simply use the term to refer to spin bowling pioneers who defy traditional classification.
Genius and genesis - Muralitharan
Mystery spinners have come from far and wide but, for Sri Lanka, Muttiah Muralitharan was the first to really light up the international cricketing world in the 1990s with his utterly original bowling action which seemed to almost go against the restrictions of human physiology.
His uniquely wristy action, partly aided by a hyper-extension in his delivery arm, had him mistaken by many for a leg-spinner in his early days and allowed him to extract unforeseen levels of turn for an off-spin bowler. He was famous for his doosra - the one that goes the other way from a traditional off-spinning delivery - as well as his top-spinner. What really marked him out, though, was the almost indiscernible difference in his action between his variations, making him almost impossible to pick throughout his career.
His early international career was marred by suggestions of an illegal bowling action, such was the uniqueness of his style, although his action was officially cleared twice by the ICC. Despite some early skeptics - most notably Australian umpire Darrell Hair, who no-balled him on several occasions in the boxing day test at the MCG in 1995 - Murali went on to be one of, if not the greatest bowler of all time.
He finished his career with a staggering 800 test wickets - almost 100 more than second-placed Shane Warne - and with 534 ODI wickets, the most of any player in that format too.
The original man of mystery - Mendis
A true mystery spinner in the sense that not just his bowling, but also his career was somewhat of a mystery, Ajantha Mendis burst onto the international scene with an immediate impact in 2008. He garnered rapid results and attention through his atypical style and the sheer array of deliveries he could produce and is often associated with ushering the term 'mystery spinner' into contemporary cricketing parlance.
Mendis is best known for popularizing (although not inventing) the ‘carrom ball’ - a delivery that involves flicking the ball with the middle finger as it leaves the hand. He also bowled off-breaks, top-spinners, leg-breaks, and everything else in between, making him the definition of indefinable in spin bowling terms.
Coming out of the Sri Lanka Army team and into international cricket, Mendis made an instant splash by picking up match figures of 8 for 132 in his first test - the best by any Sri Lankan player at that time. After the game, spin king Muralitharan stated that “Mendis is exceptional. He is the future of Sri Lankan cricket".
He made outstanding contributions in limited-overs cricket as well. He took 152 wickets in ODIs at an average of just under 22, including this six-wicket haul in the 2008 Asia Cup final against India.
Mendis is the fastest player of all time to reach 50 ODI wickets, getting there in just 19 matches. He made a real impact in T20 cricket also, taking six-for twice in T20Is - the only player to do so. But just as quickly as he emerged as one of the world's most feared spin bowlers, injuries rushed Mendis' international career to an early, and somewhat mysterious, end in 2015.
The limits of legality - Dananjaya
Another so-called off-spinner who utilizes leg-breaks, googlies, doosras, and carrom balls in a much-varied arsenal, Akila Dananjaya’s (29) career has unfortunately been undermined by two separate bans from international cricket due to what has been deemed an illegal action. The first of these bans was corrected but the second was confirmed by a biomechanics assessment. He was cleared to play international cricket again in January last year.
Emerging out of relative obscurity as a teenager in 2012, Dananjaya was spotted in a net session by then captain Mahela Jayawardene, who was so impressed that he asked him to be fast-tracked into the national team squad, leading to a call-up for the 2012 T20 World Cup.
Adding further mystery to his career, Dananjaya then disappeared from the international scene for about five years. In 2018, he entered the test arena for the first time and out-did Mendis’ record on debut by taking 8 for 44 across both innings against Bangladesh. He has taken two five-wicket hauls in ODIs including an incredible 6-wicket haul against India in 2017 seen below.
Dananjaya returned to the national fold after his successive bans last year and was on standby for the 2021 T20 World Cup. Unfortunately, he has somewhat fallen down the pecking order of spinners in the national setup, partly due to the emergence of Sri Lanka’s newer crop of bamboozling bowlers.
The new talisman - Hasaranga
A pace bowler up until his teens, Wanindu Hasaranga converted into a leg-spinner when he was 16 after attending a workshop on the bowling style. And perhaps it is that background in pace bowling that informs some of his more extreme delivery varieties as part of his repertoire involves an almost-horizontal slinging delivery - a ball that has attracted many curious eyes and even a sliver of controversy recently as it is so far beyond the norm.
Less of a mystery spinner than some of the others discussed and more of an atypical leg-spinner who has mastered the googly, Hasaranga has become Sri Lanka’s chief white-ball spin bowler in the last few years and one of the best anywhere in the world. After taking three wickets against Afghanistan in Tuesday's match at the World Cup, he is now level with Mendis as the Sri Lankan with the most three-wicket hauls in T20 World Cups (six).
Last year, he established his place amongst the game’s elite spin bowlers, being picked up by the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL and then going on to become the leading wicket-taker at the 2021 T20 World Cup with 16 scalps - incidentally, breaking the record for the most wickets at a T20 World Cup previously held by Mendis. 10 of his 16 wickets in that tournament came in the Super 12 stage.
His standout performances last year led him to be named in the ICC’s ODI and T20 teams of the year for 2021.
The emerging talent - Theekshana
The yin to Hasaranga’s yang in Sri Lanka’s two-pronged frontline spin attack, Maheesh Theekshana follows in the stylistic tradition of Mendis and Dananjaya as an off-spinner who relies on a multiplicity of variations including a well-honed carrom ball.
He bears a stark resemblance to Mendis in the way he bowls and can perhaps even be classed as a disciple of the original man of mystery, having been mentored by Mendis at the Sri Lanka Army cricket team.
Still only 22 years old, Theekshana is yet to explode into his prime and has only played a handful of tests and ODIs. However, he is fairly well-established in the international T20 side already, having played over 20 matches, including at the 2021 T20 World Cup. He was Sri Lanka’s second-highest wicket-taker at last year's tournament, behind Hasaranga, with eight dismissals.
His quality and potential were further confirmed earlier this year when he was drafted into the IPL auction and picked up by Chennai Super Kings, becoming a regular presence in their side and then also the youngest player to ever pick up a four-for in the world's premier T20 league.
2022 T20 World Cup
Sri Lanka is currently competing in the Super 12 phase of the World Cup, having passed through the opening qualifying round where they won their group with two wins after a surprise opening loss to Namibia.
In the Super 12 phase, they have beaten Ireland as well as Afghanistan (in their most recent encounter this week) but lost to both Australia and New Zealand. With just one match to play in the stage - against an intimidating England side on Saturday - they must win and hope that other unlikely results go their way if they wish to progress to the next round of the tournament, the semi-finals.
For Sri Lanka, getting this far in the tournament was a minimum requirement. In fact, it was with some embarrassment that they did not directly qualify for the Super 12 phase as they have a proud World Cup record in both T20 and ODI formats.
In fact, going into this tournament, in T20 World Cups, they had the most wins of any nation across all the previous tournaments combined.
Despite the disappointment of having to play the opening phase, they went into the tournament with a bit of momentum having won the 2022 Asia Cup against the odds, largely thanks to the exploits of Hasaranga and Theekshana.
However, they have had the misfortune of losing not one but three of their pace bowlers to injury during the World Cup already. Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka, and Binura Fernando have all been forced to withdraw from their squad putting their bowling department under extreme pressure.
That unlucky twist of fate means that Hasaranga and Theekshana have become even more vital for Sri Lanka in this tournament. And so they have proved to be.
At the time of writing, Hasaranga is currently the tournament's leading wicket-taker with 13 scalps and Theekshana is level fifth with nine.
If they are to beat England on Saturday, both of Sri Lanka's key bowlers will need to produce something special and that extra little dose of ingenuity could go a long way to helping their chances in what will be a battle against the odds.
If they don't progress further but their two exciting spinners finish near the top of the wicket-taking charts, that will nonetheless represent a proud consolation prize to take away from this tournament for Sri Lanka, the beautiful island nation that continues to intrigue and delight cricket lovers the world over thanks to its fertile production line of mystery spin.