1 over, 10 runs to go, you’re the captain. What would you do? Give the ball to the best bowler of course, right? Not really. That’s because they do not possess the skill to bowl that one elusive ball – the Yorker under pressure.
The Yorker represents the one thing that batsmen hate – A ball right under their nose that they cannot put away. It’s a ball that’s very hard to bowl too because of the small margins of error that come with it. Only a few have mastered it today. Here are the top 5 bowlers of the Yorker in today’s cricket:
Lasith Malinga
A name that will forever be associated with death bowling and Yorkers, Malinga is someone who could pull it out of the bag with ease. The Sri Lankan bowler with the funny hair and funnier slinging action is one of the finest exponents of the ball. His main advantage is disguising the Yorker in a slower ball that baffles even the best batsmen in the world. He is still the best bowler to have in a crunch situation at the end, no doubt.
Jasprit Bumrah
A find that turned out to be a superb talent, Jasprit Bumrah is another one who can ping in those nasty Yorkers at the death. His ability to swing the ball both ways makes it even harder for batsmen and he has shown his talent multiple times in the IPL with Mumbai Indians and recently with the Indian team.
Mitchell Starc
The Aussie speedster is considered the best fast bowler in the world right now and his ability to bowl Yorkers just makes him scarier. Starc is one player who can change the game on his own and the swinging Yorker at 150 kms/hour is one of his go-to weapons. Definitely not something batsmen around the world are looking forward to.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has only recently started bowling some brilliant Yorkers but he has managed to bowl it with such efficiency. In the recently concluded IPL, Bhuvi bowled brilliantly at the death and managed to get more than a couple of scalps with his Yorkers at the death. Bhuvneshwar’s form is a good omen for India heading into the Champions Trophy.
Wahab Riaz
If there’s one ball that is remembered from the 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent, it is definitely the Yorker bowled by Riaz to Yuvraj Singh. In the crunch encounter at Mohali, Yuvraj Singh was the man in form throughout the tournament and had just entered to play his first ball of the innings. Instead, he was walking back thanks to a ripper of a Yorker by Riaz. Wahab is another bowler who has the ability to bowl the sharp Yorker and Pakistan will depend on him.
By Rohit Nair
