The teesra, also known as the jalebi, is a particular type of

delivery Delivery may refer to: Biology and medicine *Childbirth *Drug delivery *Gene delivery Business and law *Delivery (commerce), of goods, e.g.: **Pizza delivery ** Milk delivery ** Food delivery ** Online grocer *Deed ("delivery" in contract law), a ...

by an

off-spin Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to ...

bowler in the sport of

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, which renowned off-spinner

Saqlain Mushtaq Saqlain Mushtaq (born 29 December 1976) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former international cricketer who was the head coach of the Pakistani national cricket team between 2021 and 2022. He is best known for pioneering the " doosra", a leg b ...

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 The Indian Cricket League (ICL) was a short-lived cricket league that ran from 2007 to 2009. It was sponsored by Zee Entertainment Enterprises, a media company. The ICL had two seasons, featuring four international teams and nine domestic teams ...

by Saqlain Mushtaq. At that time Saqlain played for the Lahore Badshahs. The first person to face the teesra or jalebi was

Russel Arnold Russel Premakumaran Arnold (; 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 as the finisher role in the Sri Lankan team batting down the order at intern ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

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 , , and , : (as evidenced in cricke ...

. 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 Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

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 Faisal ...

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 Leg before wicket (lbw) is one of the ways in which a Batting (cricket), batter can be dismissal (cricket), dismissed in the sport of cricket. Following an Appeal (cricket), appeal by the Fielding (cricket), fielding side, the umpire (cricket), ...

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 A doosra is a particular type of delivery (cricket), delivery by an off spin, off-spin bowler (cricket), bowler in cricket. The doosra spins in the opposite direction to an off break (the off-spinner's default delivery), and aims to confuse the ...

which meant the "other one" or "second one" in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, and

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, Saqlain decided to call it the teesra meaning the "third one". The name

jalebi ''Jalebi'' is a popular sweet snack in the Indian subcontinent, West Asia and some parts of Africa. It goes by many names, including ''jilapi'', ''zelepi'','' jilebi'', '' jilipi'', ''zulbia'', ''zoolbia'', ''jerry'', ''mushabak'', ''z'labia'' ...

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 physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. 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