Bowlers in cricket are known for their skillful mastery in delivering the ball with variations at different lines and lengths with varying paces. The ones who bowl with a fast pace and swing are called seam bowlers whereas the ones who turn the ball with their fingers or wrist are called spinners.
For a right-handed batter, the bowler who turns the ball from the off-stump to the leg-stump is an off-spinner whereas the bowler who turns the ball from the leg-stump to the off-stump is a leg-spinner. The leg spinner has a range of varieties to bowl like the flipper, slider, googly, and the top spinner. This article describes in brief about the top spinner.
The top spinner is a looping delivering wherein the bowlers imparts a forward spin on the ball. The bowler does so while keeping the seam facing the batter. When the bowler releases the ball, this forward spin propels the bowl higher, bring it down faster, and after pitching approaches the batter with a higher bounce.
A top spinner can be bowled through both finger spin and wrist spin. It is bowled to batters who tend to sweep the ball or hit a drive by coming down the pitch. The extra bounce takes the batter aback, making them vulnerable to dismissal through mistimed shots or improper shot selection.
Top spin is thus a variant that can often be executed by camouflaging it with the leg spin stock delivery. India’s Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, along with Shane Warne are some of the best executers of the top spin delivery.
