Top 5 exponents of reverse swing in modern cricket
Arguably one of the biggest weapons in a bowler’s artillery, reverse swing, is often regarded as a batsman’s nightmare. Typically, most teams consist of a pace battery which is capable of ripping through the top-order of their opponents batting line-up earlier on. While the new ball presents the bowlers with an opportunity to get batsmen out with traditional swing, the real challenge is when the old ball comes into play for both batsmen and the bowler.
While traditional swing has often been dealt with by good batsmen, reverse swing has spit venom at even the greatest of batsmen. Quite unlike conventional swing wherein the ball swings opposite to the direction of shine, reverse swing comes into play when the ball is old and rough and the ball drifts in the direction of the shinier side.
Apart from a considerable amount of inward movement into the batsman, the delay factor in the movement is one of the major reasons why most batsmen are troubled by the reverse swinging delivery. With one of the prerequisites for the reverse swing to come into play being the old and rough condition of the ball, it is generally witnessed in the test scenario and is also seen in patches during the slog overs of One Day International games.
One of the hardest acts to master, the dexterity involved in reverse swing bowling is not something seen in every bowler. Very few of the best bowlers going around the world have comprehended the art and delivered it to perfection such as Wasim Akram, Zaheer Khan, Glenn McGrath, Shane Bond etc.
Here, we try to look at 5 of the best reverse swing bowlers who have perfected reverse swing bowling in the modern generation.
#5 Wahab Riaz (Pakistan)
Quick and possessing the ability to swing the ball at will, Wahab Riaz has been an integral part of Pakistan's pace battery in the last few years. Capable of delivering the ball at a searing pace steadily above 140 kph, Riaz made his international ODI debut against Zimbabwe in February 2008 prior to making his T20 debut against Bangladesh just a couple of months later.
After a quiet couple of years, Riaz featured in his first test for Pakistan against England in 2010 and impressed straight away, picking up a 5-wicket haul in his first outing. However, an injury soon after sidelined him for the rest of the year.
The 2011 World Cup brought Riaz back into the limelight when he picked up an important 5-wicket haul against India and should also be given a special mention for his testing spell which had the Australian batsmen in an uncomfortable spot throughout the game in the 2015 World Cup.
In the 21 tests that Riaz has played, the pacer has scalped 65 wickets to his name and recently crossed the 100-wicket mark in ODI cricket. Fiery and aggressive with the ball, Riaz’s ability to reverse swing the ball has proved to be very useful in the past.