India, Aug. 7 -- There is a much watched video of Trent Boult being tutored by Zaheer Khan on bowling with a scrambled seam in a Mumbai Indians net session from IPL 2021. Boult had begun his career in 2011 as an out and out swing bowler for New Zealand. Not to remain predictable, he learnt the nuances of bringing in the element of natural variation off the surface that comes from holding the seam of the ball with a slight tilt.

It's a ball that has become increasingly common in the modern game. More so in Test cricket as bowlers look to weaponise the seam for a slightly different effect. "The batter is looking for in-swing, in-swing and there goes the scrambled seam," Zaheer told Boult in the video.

It was a ball used liberally by Moham...