kohli: I would Bowl Yorkers to Kohli. 24 Out of 24: Jeff Thomson

In a format dominated by batsmen, bowlers often struggle to influence the outcome of T20 matches. While there is a great deal of variation in bowling, including many types of slower balls, very few bowlers are capable of bowling well with any reasonable success.

For example, someone like Jasprit Bumrah, is worth his weight in gold because of his ability to bowl over the top and end. So what should the bowlers do? At what length should he bowl? Are the bowlers overdoing it? Former Australia fast bowler Jeff Thomson talks to Boria Mazumdar about the art of fast bowling and what according to him bowlers should or should not do against quality batsmen, all of whom are batting with the better bat in the modern game . Excerpts:

Considering how friendly the T20 format is for the batsman, what would be your first advice to bowlers struggling to make an impact?

First you have to get rid of the notion that it is a batsman friendly format. If you think the batsmen have the upper hand or they are too good, you will always be on the back foot. I said something like Shardul Thakur a few years back. I wanted him to be more aggressive. See how well they have done in recent times. Whoever the batsman is, you have to be confident that you can get him out. That you are just as good, no matter what happens. You may have the speed or you may have the ability to move the ball but if you do not win the battle in mind, you will never win the battle on the field. The batsman, whoever it is, is your enemy. Not literally but figuratively. You need to be very aggressive when you bowl. You need to be tireless. That is the first and most important thing.

That is the mental side of things. There is also an element of skill, which is also very important. Take someone like Virat Kohli. He is batting at his best. How does a bowler bowl to him? It can’t just be mental.

When you bowl to someone like Kohli, you have to know that some days you will not win. But that’s not an excuse to feel tough when you come up against him. Instead, you go harder than anyone else. Give him balls he doesn’t want to face. Bowl him in areas he doesn’t like. In my case, I had the advantage of being the fastest bowler in the world in my time. And if you ask me, I will bowl him a yorker. 24 off 24 balls, I will bowl him a yorker. Keep one leg slip and the other slip on the boundary and keep bowling in the block hole. At my own pace, I want to see someone do a lap sweep or a paddle sweep. But this is what I would do with him.

Bowlers have a lot of variety these days. Is all this necessary?

You can have all the variety but unless you are able to execute, they are of no use. When you bowl to someone like Vivian Richards, Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli, you need to be at your best in terms of execution. You need to implement the plans well. They are enough to feed you until you do. A limited bowler with better performance is always better than a talented bowler with great variety but poor performance. That’s what I’ve always believed.

Looking at the bowlers, the powerplay and all the other restrictions, would you like to bowl in T20 cricket?

Absolutely, I will. The most important thing bowlers should remember while playing in this format is that they need to bowl only 24 deliveries. Nobody is asking him to bowl three or four spells like we did in Test cricket. He doesn’t need to bowl long spells of 10 overs. He has to bowl just four overs. So, they can do their best with at least one ball. Take full steam in each of the 24 balls thrown by him. He is indebted to his team for making this happen. That’s why they are there. And if I had the chance, I would have been flat out every game knowing it was only a short burst that I had to bowl.

Would you say that the quality of fast bowling has declined over time as T20 has become the dominant format of cricket?

I would say a little. The result is a lack of continuity. Ask any bowler which ball will be most effective at the end of the innings. They’ll tell you it’s a yorker. Now ask them why can’t you throw the same ball six times out of six? Why is it that a great yorker is followed by a hall volley or an over pitched ball? There lies the problem. Modern fast bowlers don’t know how to be consistent and as a result they get thrown around. They just need to be more consistent as some of them have the necessary skill sets to do so.

Originally published at Pen 18