The pigeon fancier's arm-ball mystery

A pigeon fancier wouldn't necessarily know how to bowl an arm-ball. Arafat Sunny doesn't know how he bowls the arm-ball. He rolls his arm over exactly the same way he bowls conventional left-arm spin, but the ball holds its line and arrows into a right-handed batsman.

What Sunny knows is to bowl ten tight overs of left-arm spin from round and over the wicket. He also knows how to look after pigeons. Raise them like a child, he says. He knows what and when to feed them and exactly how long it would take them to return to the coop after a day's flight.

When you ask him about the pigeons these days however, he wears a slightly disenchanted look. "I had to give most of them away," Sunny says. "I can't give them much time. I had around 60-70 pigeons over the last several years but now I have around 8 to 10 birds. My mother insisted on keeping the few because she says 'my house is empty without them'. I haven't sold them. I have given it to people from whom I can get it back. I will get it back."

Former Australia captain Bill Lawry, former South Africa seamer Henry Williams and former Pakistan batsman Zahid Fazal are known pigeon racers among cricketers, but Sunny doesn't want to be one because it takes a lot of dedication and attention towards the birds. "You have to treat them like humans if you are a racer. You need to feed them at certain times. You can't feed them too much or they will get sick."

His knowledge of all things pigeon is enough to suggest it is more than just a hobby. What keeps him away from the pigeons is his day job, which has now become an all-year affair, after he spent the first 13 years of his career playing out only the domestic season. A year after his international debut in a Twenty20 against Sri Lanka, he is making the best of home conditions and doing the job expected of him.

He has taken 12 wickets in his last four home matches, including two consecutive four-fors against Zimbabwe and a three-wicket haul against Pakistan last Friday. In the second ODI of the three-match series against Pakistan, he finished with 1-41 in ten overs. The only wicket was Mohammad Hafeez, who was dismissed by an arm-ball.

Nothing suggests mystery in Sunny's make-up as a bowler but to him, delivering and executing the arm-ball is still confusing. He doesn't shy away from saying that he has tried to find out how he delivers the ball and why exactly it doesn't spin away when he uses the same arm action and use of finger for the away-going delivery to the right-hander. He has even gone through video footage but hasn't cracked the puzzle yet.

"I myself don't know about my arm-ball, to be completely honest," Sunny said. "I don't know which one is the arm-ball because I keep the same action and the ball turns and then it goes straight on, being an arm-ball. I don't know and I don't even want to know. Frankly what I don't know must be quite difficult for the batsmen.

"When the seam lands, the ball seems it will turn but sometimes it doesn't. I have seen footage on my laptop in the last Zimbabwe series. Even I am curious to find out what exactly happens. I tried to locate it but I haven't been able to find out the difference."

He may not know about the arm-ball but he knows exactly what he needs to do when brought on to bowl in the first mandatory Powerplay with a newish ball. He has mastered this part of his job in the domestic one-day leagues for high-profile Dhaka clubs.

"There are advantages and disadvantages to bowling in the Powerplay overs," he said. "You have more fielders inside the circle so the singles are cut out. In the domestic league, I often open or bowl one change.

"I come early to the bowling attack in the domestic matches. So it doesn't feel any different when I start early for Bangladesh. Plus we are playing in home conditions, so I know what length to bowl in order."

Sunny is the classic safety bowler in the mould of Abdur Razzak. With Shakib Al Hasan often mixing up his pace and attacking the batsman's off-stump, Sunny is expected to tie them down with his faster pace.

He said that bowling in that one game in the World Cup, against England in Adelaide, taught him a lot more about the skill than years in the domestic competition. Sunny went wicketless but did the job he was asked to - cutting out runs and not giving more than 50 in his spell.

"I only try my stock ball later in the innings when the batsmen are in attacking mode. I don't try anything different than what I know," he said. "I don't take the risk of finding out if something else would work towards the end of the innings. I try to stick to my strength.

"I learned a lot from the World Cup, particularly pace variation. Conditions were totally different; those were bouncier pitches, more batting-friendly. One couldn't just bowl back of a length. I had to learn how to bowl according to those conditions. I am applying those things here. I can mix things up. I don't bowl every delivery quickly. I hold it back sometimes. I got a higher level of confidence from the World Cup."

The trajectory of Sunny's cricket career is slightly varied from the usual path taken by Bangladesh internationals. Many start too young - in terms of age or domestic experience - and fade away quickly. Only a handful make the cut. Sunny is among the few cricketers in Bangladesh who got to the senior side after 13 years of first-class cricket. And he is still learning new tricks.

The only downside obviously is the loss of his pigeons. For the time being, he will trade it for the high of international cricket, taking four-wicket hauls, playing in the World Cup, beating Pakistan and bowling a delivery that is still a mystery to him.