Spin From Behind the Stumps? Namibia’s Tactical Move That Shook Indian Batting Line-Up

The 10th edition of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 has been displaying an extraordinary game of cricket among the associate cricket team as well as best cricket teams in the world. There are many small teams who came to this biggest stage of the game with full preparation and strategy to showcase their best game and coming with the mindset of playing cricket at its best even if they fail to win a match.

In the 18th match between India and Namibia, there was yet another display of good game of cricket by the visiting team. However, the Namibia cricket team managed to restrict India at a score of 209/9, they showed exceptional bowling in the phases and used a different kind of bowling strategy against one of the dangerous batting side.

How Namibia Used Behind the Stumps Bowling Strategy?

During India vs Namibia T20 WC match, Namibia spin bowling strategy was clearly evident in a way the spinners were bowling in the middle overs by maintaining specific line and length which helped them taking crucial wickets without leaking many runs. The skipper Gerhard Erasmus was the standout bowler for the side who led the bowling attack by taking 4 wickets by just giving 20 runs.

The captain was mainly behind the Namibia spin bowling strategy of behind the stumps bowling. He went on to take big wickets of Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya in this way of bowling behind the stumps. Tilak Varma's wicket was taken in 12th over when he played a shot at long off but couldn't clear it, mainly due to bowler bowling behind the stumps. Similarly, Hardik Pandya wasn't able to clear mid-on and was caught perfectly.

This strategy of behind the stumps bowling allows bowlers to play with the psychology of the batters who would have been ready to receive the ball ahead of stumps. This trick also enables the increase of pitch length which is normally 22 yards between two sets of wickets making it to near 24 yards. As a result, there will be a slight decrease in the speed of the ball, which can create a difference for the batter. These are the possible reasons which made batters lose their respective wickets. Indian spinner, Varun Chakaravarthy also praised the skipper and said,

What is the Rule of Behind the Stumps Bowling?

The rule of behind the stumps bowling always come in debate whenever some players use this strategy and succeeds in the execution. This is not the first time any bowler has bowler behind the stumps, big players like Kieron Pollard and Bhuvneshwar Kumar had done similarly before. But this time, Namibia skipper Gerhard Erasmus did this and was successful.

The rule states that it is legal to bowl behind the stumps but the exception is that it should be bowled in front of umpire. If a bowler has bowled behind the umpire, it will be considered as a No Ball. The bowler's front foot must land within the crease, just as in a normal delivery. However, this is a unique tactic use to deceive batters and get them out.