CHENNAI: Jarren Bacher, 22, is part of the Chennai Super Kings camp as a net-bowler. Hailing from South Africa, the off-spinner was part of the Johannesburg Super Kings set-up in the SA20 which concluded earlier this year. Cricket runs in the blood of young Jarren. He is grandson of Dr. Ali Bacher, who played Test cricket and was a noted administrator.
The off-spinner explained how his bowling action is similar to Sri Lankan great Muttiah Muralitharan. "Yes, I bowl the doosra quite regularly. I have a similar action to that of Muralitharan in that I release it (ball) from the back of my hand. I have hypermobility in all of my joints which allows me to bowl the doosra with a straight arm. So my stock delivery can come in or away just depending on the batter," he said at Guru Nanak college, where he was the chief guest of the inter-college cricket meet.
In a country that is home to great fast bowlers like Allan Donald, Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Kagiso Rabada, Jarred was captivated by off-spin. He recollected the time when he chose to become an off-spinner. "I was a wicketkeeper batsman until 14 and there was a better wicketkeeper in my side and I was struggling to get into the team, so I took up bowling and I realized that my bowling was a little bit unique in that I could bowl the doosra and from there I sort of fell in love with bowling and stopped spending time batting," revealed the youngster.
He also spoke on his time so far at the CSK camp ahead of IPL 2026. "So far, I haven't bowled to Shivam Dube because he only arrived yesterday and same with Sanju Samson. I have spent a lot of time bowling to Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Karthik Sharma as well as Aman Khan. It was a learning experience," he said, adding that he only had a brief chat with MS Dhoni.
While he might imitate Muralidharan's actions, it is former Indian cricketer R Ashwin who inspires Jarren.
"He has been my hero from when I was 13. He is a fighter. He never gives up. Some people say he plays the game quite hard, but I like that. He has got this real never-give-up attitude. And I feel that batters fear him like they would for a fast bowler. I enjoy that aspect of his game a lot," said.
Back home, it was leg-spinner Imran Tahir that played a big influence on him. "In fact when I started watching the IPL, I started supporting Chennai Super Kings as my first team because of Imran Tahir who was the spinner at the time. And fortunately enough just a couple months ago I got the pleasure of playing (practising) with him for the Joburg Super Kings and he was such an incredible help to my cricket and he spent a lot of time teaching me all of his amazing tricks so I'm very grateful to Tahir," said Jarren.
He describes himself as a quick spinner, contrary to how Indian spinners bowl — with flight and guile.
"For me, flight is not the most important thing because I am quite a quick spinner. So I find that length and deception in terms of variations and that is how I get my wickets. I tend to do quite well against left handers. And the more left handers I get to bowl to, the better," he said.
Now that he bowls to some of the big names in the sport, and is mentored by S Sriram, CSK's spin bowling coach, Jarred wants to make the most out of this experience. "It is an incredible opportunity to learn from somebody who has so much wisdom and has been coaching at such a high level for such a long period of time. Thankfully, over the last few days, I have actually spent a lot of time with Sriram, where we have been talking about tactics, angles and we have had really good conversations about steps that we are going to take to try and improve my game," he signed off.
