The Difference Between Googly and Doosra in Cricket

Cricket has several types of bowlers — pacers/seamers and spinners. Among spinners, there are 2 sub-types — wrist spinners and finger spinners.

Both types of spinners have plenty of variations up their sleeves. But Googly and Doosra are some of the most potent deliveries they possess.

Now both these variations are different in how they are bowled and who bowls them.

On that note, let’s look at the difference between Googly and Doosra in cricket.

Googly vs Doosra

Before we uncover the difference between Googly and Doosra, let’s understand how spinners bowl these 2 variations.

A Googly is a surprise weapon for wrist spinners or leg spinners. The delivery catches batters off guard as it spins in the opposite direction of their stock delivery — leg spin/leg break.

A leg break turns in for a right-hand batter from leg side to offside. Whereas, a googly spins towards the right-hander from offside to leg side.

Now, speaking of Doosra, it’s the exact opposite of Googly in terms of how it spins. Plus, an off-spinner bowls the Doosra, which behaves in contrast to an off-spin/off-break.

The off-spin delivery spins towards the right-hand batter from offside to leg side. But a Doosra spins from leg side to offside, just like a leg break delivery.

So the difference between Googly and Doosra is pretty clear. Wrist spinners bowl Googly, which turns from left to right, while off-spinners bowl Doosra, which turns from right to left.

Despite that, both variations are delivered with the same aim — to deceive the batters. Many spinners used these variations to leave batters in tatters.

Which bowlers excelled at bowling Googlies and Doosras?

Bowling a Googly is a bit easier as compared to a Doosra. Thus, almost every leg spinner has bowled it in their career at some point.

Anil Kumble, Shane Warne, and Mushtaq Ahmed, who were legendary leg spinners in their days, bowled some quality googlies. (Check out the list of the best Googly bowlers here.)

Saqlain Mushtaq was the pioneer of Doosra, having introduced it to the world in the early 2000s. The Pakistani off-spinner even came up with a ‘Teesra’.

Apart from him, Muthiah Muralidaran, Harbhajan Singh, and Saeed Ajmal bowled proficient Doosras. (Check out the list of the best Doosra bowlers here.)

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