Bumrah repeatedly deceived batters with his slower deliveries during the T20 World Cup 2026.
Jasprit Bumrah played a pivotal role in India’s T20 World Cup title defence at home. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav used him in different phases and the ace pacer certainly delivered for the team, finishing as the tournament’s joint-leading wicket taker with 14 scalps from eight outings.
Bumrah returned with figures of 4/15 in the final against New Zealand at Ahmedabad and posted an economy of 6.21 throughout the competition. Deservingly, he was named Player-of-the-Match in the title clash.
More than the wickets, what stood out was the way Bumrah repeatedly deceived batters with his slower deliveries.
Amid his brilliance, Pakistan-born UAE cricketer Zahoor Khan has claimed that he taught Jasprit Bumrah how to bowl slower deliveries with the same grip and action during IPL in the UAE.
Zahoor revealed that the Mumbai Indians franchise called him to bowl in the nets and help train the players for games. He recalled how he and Bumrah discussed the technique of bowling slower balls.
Zahoor said Bumrah already used to bowl slower deliveries, but his technique was different at that time.
“Let me tell you a story. Bumrah used to bowl slower balls before, but with normal action. In one of the matches in Abu Dhabi, he, Trent Boult, and Nathan Coulter-Nile conceded a lot of runs. The IPL was happening in September that year. In September, in the UAE, it’s 50 degrees. It’s very hot. You can’t even hold the ball properly at night because it gets wet,” Zahoor said in an interview going viral on social media.
“So Mumbai Indians called me, I did quarantine for 6 days, went to practice on the 7th day. I was with the team that night. Zaheer Khan and Robin Singh knew me because I did a maiden over in T10 league. I bowled the first one yorker and next five deliveries were slower ones. I bowled slow. So we were sitting together, Bumrah came and sat in front of the table, Rohit Sharma came and sat there, I was sitting there, I was watching,” he added.
Zahoor said Bumrah came over and asked him about the deliveries he was bowling in T10 league.
“Zaheer Khan told me to show my video where I bowled a maiden over. Bumrah looked at it and asked me, ‘Brother, what are you bowling here?’ I said they were slower balls. Then he asked me how I bowl them,” Zahoor said.
“I said, in the same action, in the same grip. He said, how is this possible? I said, I’ll tell you in practice. He said, okay you have to tell me your grip in the next practice. I said, okay. When the practice came, I was bowling. Shane Bond was the bowling coach of Mumbai Indians. And Mahela Jayawardene was standing behind the nets. So I came and did a slower bouncer. It beat the batsman. Shane Bond said, what is your grip? Do you bowl off-cutters? I said, no, it’s the same grip.”
“He said show me, I threw it like this and then two or three slower balls. So he told Jayawardene that this is a new thing in cricket. He said, ‘Look how good he bowls the slower balls, in the same action and arm speed. So after a day or two, I was bowling with Bumrah. So he said, Paaji, what is your grip, show me. So I showed him, it’s the same. I threw it like this, it has to come in the same action. So he bowled and said, ’this is the next level thing.’ I mean, I’m a player for UAE right now and he’s a world-class bowler. So I really liked that thing that he’s such a big star and he was asking me,” he concluded.