A teesra is a type of ball bowled by an off-spinner. An off-spinner bowls such that the ball pitches in line of the off stump and moves towards the leg stump. A variation used by the off-spinner is the doosra where the ball moves in a direction opposite (leg to off) to the regular off-spin. A third variant is the teesra, where the ball is bowled much quicker than the previous two variants and has minimal spin. Teesra translates to the “third one”.
The teesra was popularized by Pakistan’s Saqlain Mushtaq. Cricket pundits realized that the teesra was a backspin delivery or an arm ball. It has also been called a ‘jalebi,’ a spiral-shaped Indian subcontinent sweet dish.
The teesra is bowled by gripping the ball in the same way a regular off-spin is bowled. At the time of release, the bowler rotates the fingers and wrist in the desired direction to procure the spin. But in a teesra, the bowler simply does not make any movement with the fingers or wrist at the time of release. It would appear that the bowl is likely to turn a lot from a batter’s point of view. However, upon pitching it would barely turn and instead approach much quicker.
The teesra mimics the magnus effect. According to this, the ball spinning through the air drags the surrounding air along with it. While bowling the teesra, the bowler imparts a backspin. The spin of the ball while travelling through the air is thus towards the bowler. This increased momentum of the ball results in its increased pace after pitching. Apart from Saqlain Mushtaq, Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal is another bowler who routinely bowled the teesra.
