New Delhi: Legendary Australia speedster Brett Lee feels apart from Jasprit Bumrah, pacers are failing to nail yorkers in the death overs and he wants them to master the pivotal delivery.
Bumrah is one of the most complete bowlers in world cricket at the moment. He can bowl wicket-taking deliveries without leaking runs but the most lethal weapon in his armoury is his toe-crushing yorker, which he, more often that not, executes perfectly in the death overs.
“On a general rule, other than Bumrah, we haven’t seen enough fast bowlers nailing their yorkers recently.
“I want to see fast bowlers bowl more yorkers. I still don’t reckon they execute enough yorkers at the death,” Lee said at the launch of the Legends Intercontinental T20 league recently.
With the recently-concluded IPL featuring scores in excess of 200 regularly, Lee believes the fast bowlers would have been economical had they nailed yorkers.
“If you look back at 17 years of Indian Premier League, on average a yorker goes for a strike rate of less than 100. Which tells me that one run or less per bowler that’s executed.
“Now, when you bowl a yorker and you’ve got guys who can go down and scoop you over the head, well that puts pressure on you as a bowler.
“You’ve got to set in the right field and put two men back, third man fine and back and then bowl,” Lee added.
As T20 cricket progresses, the game is tilting more and more towards the batters. With the ‘Impact Player Rule’ and flat decks, bowlers struggled in the IPL.
Lee, like several other former players, called for a balance between bat and ball.
“I’m all for batters smoking the ball all over, but there has got to be something for the bowlers too. I’m not asking for a green top, where teams bowled out for 110, because that’s not good for cricket either.
“You want a good total, I think. Anywhere around that 185 mark to 230 is a good score. We’ve seen scores now of 265, 270, 277.
“It’s really hard because most bowlers now are going for 45 to 50 off their four overs.” he said.