More yorkers? Yes, please!
In a sport that is dubbed as the ‘batsman’s game’, bowling a yorker can be tricky. Bowlers around the world would agree that it is one of the toughest deliveries to bowl, yet the most effective. It’s a game of small margins. If a bowler misses his length even slightly, it’s either a juicy full toss or a lovely half volley that can clear the ropes with ease. As we’ve seen in this year’s IPL, no target is too big. T20 cricket has redefined the way batsmen go about their business. Nothing is impossible now, whether you’re putting up a total or chasing mountains.
And it’s exactly why it’s a good idea for fast bowlers around the world to bowl more yorkers, especially at the death. Batsmen are looking to hit every ball. And a yorker is the most difficult ball to face. It is a batsman’s nightmare. Plus, there’s no limit on the number of yorkers that can be bowled in an over, is there? In a cricketing era that feasts on maximum impact in minimum balls, it remains the most lethal weapon in a bowler’s armoury.
The question is, what does it take to bowl the perfect yorker? How does a bowler plan it?
Australia’s Brett Lee was one of the greatest exponents of the yorker delivery in his heyday. In this video, he explains what is the exact way to bowl a yorker and what should be Plan B if the yorkers don’t work:
Rewind to IPL 2019, Match 10: DC vs KKR
It was the first Super Over of IPL 2019. And it was between two teams who were going hard at each other. Young Prasidh Krishna bowled an excellent over to restrict Delhi Capitals to 10 runs. Was it enough for Delhi to defend? Not when you’ve got the mighty Andre Russell in the opponent’s camp.
The Perfect Plan
But DC had a plan. They threw the ball to their ace bowler. Kagiso Rabada wasn’t prepared to bowl though. He was in his shorts, ready to play spectator as the game finally drew to a finish. A few minutes later, he was out there wreaking havoc for the Kolkata Knight Riders batsmen. His Plan B in a regular match became his Plan A in the Super Over. Here’s how:
Ball 1: a 144 kph low full toss on the leg, Russell clipped it square leg for a boundary
Ball 2: a near-perfect yorker that almost got Russell had he not put his bat down in time. A dot ball.
Ball 3: a fiery, 147 kph perfect yorker that rattled Russell’s middle stump and KKR’s hopes. KKR needed 6 runs off the last 3 balls with Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik still at the crease. But they struggled for any sort of timing in their shots. DC won the match by 3 runs, thanks to the mastermind of Rabada. Bowling an over full of yorkers wasn’t a bad idea after all.
Been there, done that: Mohammed Shami
It wasn’t the first time a bowler had attempted to bowl the yorker to the most dangerous batsman in the IPL. Kings XI Punjab’s Mohammed Shami bowled an absolute peach three days before KKR played DC. The result? Russell was cleaned up in the 17th over. Had it not been an unfortunate no-ball, KXIP would’ve been spot on. It was a fool-proof plan.
