Overview:
He remembered engaging in in-depth chats with Bumrah and getting the chance to bowl alongside the India pacer in the nets.
UAE pacer Zahoor Khan, originally from Pakistan, recently claimed he assisted Jasprit Bumrah in perfecting his slower deliveries. In a video circulating on social media, Zahoor said he coached Bumrah on bowling slower balls without altering his natural action during the 2019 IPL. Zahoor, who was a net bowler for the Mumbai Indians during the UAE leg of the tournament, revealed that Bumrah sought tips on fine-tuning his slower deliveries. While Zahoor insists he helped refine Bumrah’s technique, there is no concrete evidence to support this, and the claim may be an overstatement.
“Let me share something. Bumrah was already bowling slower balls, but with his usual action. During a match in Abu Dhabi, he, Trent Boult, and Nathan Coulter-Nile went for plenty of runs. That IPL took place in September, and in the UAE it’s scorching—around 50 degrees. Even at night, the heat makes the ball slippery, and it’s hard to maintain a proper grip,” he said.
“Mumbai Indians called me up, so I completed six days of quarantine and joined practice on the seventh day. That night, I was with the team. Zaheer Khan and Robin Singh already knew me because of a maiden over I bowled in the T10 league. I started with a yorker and the next five balls were slower deliveries. We were all sitting together when Bumrah came and took a seat, Rohit Sharma sat nearby, and I was watching everything,” Zahoor explained.
According to Zahoor, Mumbai Indians’ management had already noticed his ability to bowl slower deliveries during his T10 stint. He remembered engaging in in-depth chats with Bumrah and getting the chance to bowl alongside the India pacer in the nets.
“I told him it’s the same action and the same grip. He asked, ‘How is that even possible?’ I said I would show him during practice. He agreed and asked me to reveal the grip in the next session. When practice came, I was bowling while Shane Bond was the Mumbai Indians’ bowling coach and Mahela Jayawardene was watching from behind the nets. I bowled a slower bouncer that beat the batsman. Shane Bond asked if I was bowling off-cutters, and I told him no—it’s the same grip,” Zahoor recounted.
“He asked me to show him, so I bowled one delivery followed by two or three slower balls. He turned to Jayawardene and said this is something new in cricket as he’s able to bowl slower balls with the same action and arm speed. A day or two later, I was bowling alongside Bumrah again. He asked me, ‘Paaji, what’s your grip? Show me.’ I demonstrated, explaining it had to be delivered with the same action. He tried it and said, ‘This is next-level stuff.’ I mean, I’m a UAE player, and he’s a world-class bowler. I really appreciated that such a big star was genuinely interested in learning from me,” he concluded.