Jasprit Bumrah is the best bowler in the world across formats, that too by a country mile. India's pace ace was once again in stellar form during their victorious 2026 T20 World Cup campaign at home. In the final, Bumrah registered figures of 4-15 to be named Player of the Match, and was a hugely influential figure in India's title-winning run.
While he is most famous for his deadly yorkers, Bumrah's recent trump card has been the slower ball which has famously deceived the best of batters across the globe. The key to this great slower ball is how Bumrah executes it without changing his bowling action one bit. Here is a secret behind the magic delivery.
UAE pacer Zahoor Khan, a veteran for his country in their cricketing history, reveals that he had taught Bumrah the art to bowl a vicious slower ball during the 2020 IPL season. Zahoor was part of the Mumbai Indians squad during that season and it was a time when he had gained global fame for bowling five dot balls in a row during a T10 game in late 2019.
Bumrah had allegedly watched videos of that Zahoor spell and instantly wanted got curious about this deadly slower ball. By the end of the 2019 season, Bumrah had learnt the trick perfectly and the rest, as they say, is history! For those unaware, COVID19 pandemic had forced the 2020 IPL season to be shifted to UAE in the latter half of the year.
"We were all sitting during the MI camp and the video of my maiden over to Lendl Simmons was being played on YouTube," said Zahoor.
"Bumrah got curious when I told him that all deliveries were slower balls, that too without change in action or grip. He asked me how I managed to do it. I told him that I'll tell during the next practice session."
Consequently, Zahoor taught the fundamentals to Bumrah and today, India's pace spearhead tortures the best of batters with his wicket variation, combining this with his yorker potency to tie down the batting side.
🚨🚨SHOCKING REVEALATION ABOUT JASPRIT BUMRAH BY A PAKISTANI BORN UAE CRICKETER ZAHOOR KHAN.!!!
— 𝐀. (@was_abdd) March 10, 2026
Zahoor Khan said that Jasprit Bumrah has learned his slower delivery variation from me back in 2019 when I played with him in Mumbai Indians.
He said that I bowled a maiden over to… pic.twitter.com/mAtzsGZDMj
Zahoor has been a standout performer for UAE in T20Is, boasting of an economy rate of under 7 RPO and average under 20. Even in overall T20s, Zahoor's economy rate is only 7.48 and has an average of under 23.
Zahoor's trademark is his death bowling, and he relies primarily on a mix of slower ball yorkers, slower bouncers and pacy yorkers. He has been a popular UAE figure across T20 leagues.
