I never practised leg spin: Anustup Majumdar

CHENNAI: East Zone skipper Natraj Behera, who hails from Orissa, wasn't aware that Anustup Majumdar could bowl leg-breaks until Iresh Saxena informed him.
Although off-spinner Iresh returned a five-wicket haul, it was his Bengal teammate Majumdar, a top-order batsman, who emerged the unlikely bowling hero as he helped East retain the Duleep Trophy from an unlikely position on Thursday.
"I haven't bowled much in first-class cricket," Majumdar told reporters. "I bowled off-spin in one or two first-class matches, although I began as a leg-spinner and a lower-order batsman in junior cricket. After that things changed a bit. On this wicket we had gone with only one spinner and three seamers, so I tried bowling, and I managed it! Leg-spinners are generally more inconsistent and I hadn't been practising bowling leg-spin. I bowled a good ball, got a wicket (that of Mahesh Rawat) and my confidence went up."
While Majumdar turned the match around after his introduction in the 70th over, Iresh, who returned a five-wicket haul, played a big part in the win. "I knew Anustup bowled leg-spin because I'm also from Kolkata. I told Natraj to give him one of my overs, because I wanted to change ends. I wanted to change ends because I wasn't getting wickets, and I thought there was more purchase from the other end. After Anustup got the wicket, we really came together as a team and started enjoying it more."