The other night, I watched Tristan Stubbs bat for the Delhi Capitals. Mumbai’s Luke Wood was bowling to him. Although he had been hitting his yorkers and bowled some really decent deliveries, Stubbs was simply savouring them. Wood then took a different line, and Stubbs took the opposite route, flicking it over the short third. I couldn’t help but think how amazing and brave hitters these days are, and how adept they are at reading bowlers’ movements. It’s absolutely absurd.
Just have a look at the results. The fact that Mitchell Starc has such a lenient margin for mistake demonstrates how excellent the wickets are, how quickly the grounds are, and how little some of them are. It’s incredible what the batsmen can do these days, and even when you have one of the best white-ball bowlers ever, he just misses the line or length by a little bit.
As the bowling coach for Delhi in Dubai and Kings XI Punjab in India, I would try to instill in the bowlers the idea that it’s increasingly difficult to stay ahead of the curve. As a bowler, I would love to point the finger at the bloody bats, the bloody hitters, or the wickets. That’s not all, though. It’s only a matter of batter development.
I adhere to tradition. But the truth is that the game changes with time. Batters are changing. In my opinion, the bowling community as a whole needs to improve more than anything else. All we need to do is improve our ability to watch and read the batter’s movements.
closely observing the actions of hitters. A lap is created when they cross a specified number of balls, two dot balls, or no boundary in the first three balls of the over. There is excellent research available, but our application of it needs to improve. Must maintain a lead over the hitter. and generally improve, as the current generation of hitters and those who will follow them are only becoming better every day. The bats are not to blame. They used to grow very large, but that is now controlled. It all comes down to how, as a bowler, you manage to stay ahead of them and keep them guessing.
You must attempt to double bluff. As a bowling coach, getting your pitch in the proper position and getting them to hit to it was one of my main priorities. That’s a bad ball you bowled if you miss. However, if you execute and they succeed in doing so—lapping, flicking, or anything else—just go back, clear your mind, make sure you’re focused, and attempt executing again. Bowlers will think they’ve bowled four excellent overs but still gone for forty when they see this. Although you’re upset at the time, you look back and realise that although they’ve executed 80% of the time, the hitters have been too skilled.
How do we improve now? Of course, you can continue practicing with various slower balls and grips. which is what each of them does. There was an incredible quantity of debris surrounding slower balls, particularly with certain bowlers. But I’m not really into that. You are going to get destroyed even if you are bowling a slower ball that you are unable to execute. My point is that you need to practise that a lot in order to master it, and your execution needs to be flawless. Otherwise, there would be no purpose in bowling it. It will fall into the slot and hit you again.
Some Indian bowlers from home have approached me and said, “I have six or seven slower balls.” And I would say, “Jesus, you belong on the international cricket team.” And good luck with all of them if you’re carrying them out. Again, though, they weren’t. To which I would reply, get something that, even in this style, you can turn into your stock ball. Once you have that stock ball, you can use your crease, flick your fingers or wrist, or do anything else you choose. Just make sure you practise this technique repeatedly. in order for you to always place the ball where you want it and call on it whenever you desire. Ultimately, everything boils down to execution.
Without question, you must have variants. However, variations don’t always mean fluttering your fingers or wrist. It has a slightly longer ball, a slightly different grip, and a slightly different angle at the crease. Can you bowl a ball that is a tiny bit longer? It’s an extremely difficult task. That and other slower versions are also variations. The only variances are when you get tangled up in a flick of the wrists or rear of the hand. Running at a slightly different angle during your run-up, but all of that needs to add up to the ability to land on the crease and the assurance to consistently place the ball where I want it.
Some years ago in the IPL, I worked with a really experienced Australian white-ball bowler. Having witnessed his skill with his slower balls, I was eager to collaborate with him. Unbelievably good and consistently winning the BBL.
He was really skilled at it. But after that, he started to bowl so many different slower balls and got so far away that he was getting hit. If it was a regular pace, everyone would line up for his slower ball and still hit it. I spoke with him on the phone a lot about returning to what made you successful. You still have good bowling speed. Slower balls weren’t your standard balls; they were a change of pace. He was capable of hitting three or four really terrific slower balls, but he gave it up a lot. I don’t mean to brag, but I believe he retained a lot of our conversation and is still performing admirably on the tour.
With the exception of this past week, when the pitches slowed down and the spinners came into action, the emphasis of this IPL season has, naturally, been on big-hitting. But take a look at people who are still doing well, like Sunil Narine and Jasprit Bumrah. What exactly is it that they are doing well?
It ultimately boils down to the majority of the others not being proficient in their ball handling or execution.
You choose to play Mumbai’s innings of Jake Fraser McGurk. He played incredibly well and scored about 80 runs, but the bowling was dreadful. It was positioned in the slot. It was too long and moved too slowly when it was brief. Without intending to be disrespectful, Jake only missed the one he got out on, and that was by a mere five metres. He continued to hit everything.
As a bowler, there are several reasons you can offer. As a bowler, you can go back and say, “Oh, I’ve gone for 10-an-over again because of the pitches and the bats,” but if you look closely, you’ll notice that, more often than not, you’re missing your marks.
During Fraser-McGurk’s knock, even Michael Clarke said in his commentary that while the bowling wasn’t very good, the hitter deserved all the credit. Nobody misses him. That’s just one more excellent point. We have a tonne of data and everything. So where are most of our balls being pitched? You’re going to get crushed if you keep landing in the 4- to 5-meter region. It’s not quite short enough at the 6-7 mark.
Delhi gave me a lot of knowledge about matchups. The significance of them. At Punjab, Mike Hesson wasn’t too concerned about it. He was more of the belief—which I don’t disagree with—that each of us knows the batter and when to bowl to him. However, consider Travis Head. As bowler, you have to execute your plan flawlessly with every ball.
I’ll go right around the wicket and attack his middle stump from that angle if it’s not swinging in down the line off middle and his middle stump is most likely off-stump. As a bowler, I used to believe that I could match up with anyone. Who I bowl with is irrelevant to me. I can remove anyone if I place my nice ball in the proper area. They’ll hit me if they’re skilled enough.
I never imagined the Impact Substitute rule being implemented in the IPL. The BBL experienced the Power Surge. You may say that some adjustments have been made to the batter’s advantage. As an old hand, I think you can’t keep fiddling around. Almost entirely, a new statistics database must be created. Again, though, you have no influence over it.
When Dale Steyn talked about how social media is “always a good time to be a bowler” and how, in this day and age, you can stand out even more with the ball, I thought it was a great perspective on the platform. You have to focus on that as a young bowler. You are able to change things. That perspective is really wonderful. How can I get my economy rate back to a 6 or 7 against these elite batters? However, Bumrah and Rashid Khan are here and doing that. That’s your golden ticket to wealth. Not many people in the world are able to be.
I’ve been corresponding with Spencer Johnson via messaging. Furthermore, he claimed to have only been watching Bumrah. So distinct. Bumrah’s arm does what it does, therefore not much about his actions changes. Spencer thought, “Maybe I should do that more often.” I responded, “It’s great that you’re considering all of this.” Because Spencer has such a regular motion, the variations he uses are really different from what Spencer is capable of.
Bumrah is a unique ability. These days, it’s virtually considered a crime to do an elegant, natural action like Spencer’s. Maybe this is something that Australia needs to consider more. Not every action has to be seen in a smooth, flowing manner. Work with someone who uses a slightly different action if you have one. We want for that distinctiveness in Australia. to locate the world’s Pathiranas and Thusharas. In light of the carnage we’re having to witness in T20 cricket, we as a bowling community need to remember what it means to be different. And I think that’s our responsibility.
According to Bharat Sundaresan’s account
