Essentially, this is the same as the flipper -- only, Warne spreads his first and second fingers further apart over the seam, and uses the increased traction to impart heavy overspin to the delivery.

The result -- not only does the ball loop more in the air, making the exact length slightly harder to read, but it also bounces higher as the seam bites the turf and the ball hurries forward at a faster pace.

Anil Kumble will smile -- he's pretty much made a career out of this delivery, which he alternates with the conventional flipper, to account

for a lot of his success.

Here again, the tendency has been for batsmen prone to lunge into their forward defensive shots to get it on the splice of the bat or even on the glove, thanks to the higher bounce -- thus keeping the close in fielders interested.

The Indians, on this tour, have been countering this delivery, for the most part, by squaring up, letting it come on and then playing it dead with soft hands. And whenever the length is fractionally short, a pronounced movement onto the back foot opens up the field for -- depending on line -- the cut, the cover drive, the pull or the glide behind square on the leg side.

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