The 'Sodokku': How Ravichandran Ashwin brought Chennai's secret to international cricket

Ravichandran Ashwin’s version of the carrom ball hailing from the streets of Chennai – the Sodokku

Ravichandran Ashwin, who turns 29 on Thursday, has always added a special dimension to the Indian cricket team – with his intelligent and incisive spin bowling, not to mention his batting, which has already earned him 2 Test centuries and a consistent place in ICC’s list of best all-rounders in the world.

One of the weapons which the spinner uses with great effect on the international stage is called the sodokku ball – a venomous delivery thought to be born, developed, and perfected on the streets of Chennai.

The word sodokku is an onomatopoeic Tamil term common in Chennai, especially among those who play tennis ball cricket, which means 'flick of the fingers'.

How the sodokku is bowled

The delivery involves holding the ball between the index and middle fingers so that the thumb is bunched up behind the ball, and giving a fillip to the ball while throwing it. This fillip makes the ball rotate crazily while in the air and produces great zip and turn of the pitch. What makes the ball even more threatening is that the ball looks harmless while in the air, before startling the batsman with extra pace and turn after hitting the turf.

When the centre finger is gripped towards the leg side, the ball spins from leg to off; when the centre finger is gripped towards the off side, the ball spins from off to leg.

International commentators have often called Ashwin’s ball the sudoku ball, adding to the puzzle surrounding this wizardly art. The sodokku and the Japanese puzzle have nothing in common except the degree of perplexity they can induce.

This ball is much easier to execute with a tennis ball, and has been a part of Chennai spinners’ vocabulary for years. Because gripping the harder cricket ball is far more difficult, the ball never found its way into international cricket till the rise of Ravi Ashwin and his ‘astronaut’s brain’.

How the sodokku entered international cricket

A variation of the sodokku ball – the carrom ball – has been known to be in existence since the days of the 2nd World War, when Australia’s Jack Iverson discovered the trick with a table tennis ball, while on army service. The ball found its re-entry into international cricket when Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis, coincidentally another army man, bamboozled batsmen all over the world for a few years with the ball that flew off the surface.

That the sodokku could be brought into international cricket was an idea which formed in Ashwin’s mind when he saw a young Mendis bowl the carrom ball during unofficial junior level matches in Delhi.

Ashwin said, "I saw Mendis bowl at Chepauk. This was before he went on to play for Sri Lanka. I went home that day and told my father that I saw someone who was flicking the leather ball with his fingers like how we do in tennis-ball cricket.

"Nothing went right at first. It would land short and I was thrashed in the nets."

According to Ashwin’s coach Raman, it took him two to three years before he could gain control over his stock delivery. But by the time IPL 2010 and subsequent international call-up came calling, the sodokku was all set to take cricket by storm.

A video of the ball and one of the world’s best being victim to it: