Shimron Hetmyer did not require a clairvoyant’s intuition to forecast the path of Mitchell Starc’s first ball at him. It would, inevitably, be a yorker tailing into his shoes. The Guyanese batsman coiled to get under the ball so that the missile did not dismember his stumps. Like a wild hairpin bend, it crawled towards his toes, skewing violently from the off-stump line towards the direction of the leg-stick. Hetmyer groped hastily and hopelessly, as the ball grazed off the inside edge to the fence.
Last-over exchanges are when the audience gasps at the incredulity of a stroke, rather than recreate the swerving path of a toe-crusher and wonder whether it was for real or an optical illusion. But Starc’s spell of devastating reverse-swing sorcery would embellish the IPL folklore. Twelve balls of fire and heat — eight of those in the blockhole — he produced a symphony of reverse swing, yorkers and death-over bowling. More precisely, on how to combine these facets to produce a captivating and match-defining performance.
Not only Starc, pace-ally Mohit Sharma made the ball reverse into right-handed batsmen in the Powerplay. As did Kolkata Knight Riders’ Anrich Nortje before the dew set in at Mullanpur against Punjab Kings on Tuesday, and Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Eshan Malinga, against Punjab Kings last week. Mohit attributed the sudden resurrection of reverse-swing and the tool it devastatingly aids, the yorker, to re-legalisation of the use of saliva on the ball, banned during the pandemic.
𝙉𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙨. 𝘿𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙖. 𝙀𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨! 😉
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“[It helps] 100 percent. In 70 percent of the games, the ball is tailing in and it’s only because saliva is heavy, and our sweat is not so heavy,” he said.
The effects of saliva on leather is well documented. When one side of the ball is polished with saliva, and as the other gets progressively rougher, it gets heavier, leading to weight imbalance. The ball, consequently, starts swinging to the heavier, shinier side, as opposed to the rougher part with conventional swing. “ If the ball is heavier on one side, it will tail in,” Mohit explained.
Different methods
Starc, though, claimed he doesn’t rely on saliva.
“I don’t use it (saliva). I think it’s a myth. Some people swear by it. I don’t know what the difference is with sweat and saliva. I don’t reckon it makes a difference. It can make a difference on the red ball. I don’t reckon it makes a difference on the white ball,” he detailed.
It could be a classic case of what works for one doesn’t for the other. and vice versa. But essentially, even with the saliva advantage, not every one could coax reverse-swing, and fewer still possess the unflinching energy and precision to nail the yorker repeatedly. It’s both unrepeatable and unsustainable for a longer period, requiring incredible shoulder strength, a durable back and powerful knees. It requires scientific precision – as an inch fuller it becomes a full toss, and an inch shorter it turns to be a hit-me length ball – and almost narcissistic self-belief.
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Speed is a requisite too. The faster the ball, the more dramatically the ball would swing and misbehave, due to the increased air pressure around the sphere when travelling at speed. It is little coincidence that the art’s finest exponents were/are capable of nudging past 140 kph. Starc’s heat-seeker to Nitish Rana clocked 144 kph; the Hetmyer one flashed 142 on the speed gun. As quick or quicker were Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, or Imran Khan before them. Its supposed inventor, Sarfraz Nawaz was more military medium than supersonic, but he was an exception with wondrous wrists that harnessed deviation even on dry tracks.
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Height is beneficial. Starc is six feet six inches. Most of the reverse-swing artistes, with the magnificent anomaly of Dale Steyn (5 feet- 10) were over six feet. A higher release point exaggerates the sudden drop, as Rana would confess.
Conditions matter
As with conventional swing, ground and atmospheric conditions influence reverse-swing. Just as the orthodox ones requires overcast skies and moisture-laden surfaces, reverse-swing thrives on dry decks with negligible moisture content and an abrasive outfield. The dry ground at the Arun Jaitley Stadium abetted Starc and Mohit. Reverse-swing could diminish when dew sets in as dampness in the outfield decelerates the roughening up of one side. That’s what ball- shiners busily do, keeping moisture away while also polishing the shinier side. Afternoon games on dry grounds could facilitate reverse movements, whereas dewy venues with a smooth grass cover make it more difficult.
Beyond suitable conditions, it’s the gifts of the bowler that makes any advantage translate into wickets and dot balls. Starc’s yorkers are more destructive because he has mastered the tough art like few other contemporaries of his. The Indian pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami (in Tests) could match him. But not many others. A common thread, apart from speed, is their wrists, being able to flick the ball upon release to give it the extra push. Starc’s natural release, which takes the ball out before curving it back, makes his reverse-swinging corkers difficult to defuse. Even if the batsman predicts the delivery.
The crux, thus, is that even though legalising saliva could make reverse-swing more common in the league, it would still require mastery, speed, precision and wrists to crack the reverse-swinging yorker code. Just like it is with conventional swing.
