India pacer Arshdeep Singh has said a lot of credit for the way he delivers his yorkers should go to Jasprit Bumrah. The left-arm pacer who came through the IPL ranks during the Covid years, is amongst the best exponents of yorker in T20 cricket as he was named the ICC T20I cricketer of the year in 2024. Speaking on ‘Breakfast with Champions’ show, the Punjab seamer was asked about the consistency with which he is able to deliver the yorkers. When comparing his remarkable consistency with a vending machine that keeps delivering what is sought, Arshdeep said: “So the vending machine or whatever the highest level is, it goes to Jassie (Jasprit Bumrah) Bhai. That goes to him. After that yes, if you press the yorker button in such a vending machine if the ball falls somewhere close, if the batter gets out or does that not go for a six, then yes, you can put me in that. So all the credit goes to Jassie bhai for the way I bowl.” After coming into the Indian white-ball scheme of things, Arshdeep has established his spot in the T20I team. Such has been his performances in the recent times that India off-late have not even had the need to look beyond Arshdeep as Bumrah’s partner in the shortest format. Even in the last T20 World Cup which India won, Arshdeep had a big role to play in it and also bowled a key 19th over in the final, conceding just 4 runs after Bumrah gave two runs in the previous over. In the final played at Barbados, he picked up the crucial wickets of Aiden Markram at the top and that of Quinton de Kock. In his final over, the precision with which he delivered two pin-point yorkers ensured South Africa needed 16 runs for the last over. And Arshdeep said he learnt a lot from watching former Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram with regards to delivering yorkers. “All left-arm pacers that are there on YouTube, I don't think I've missed anyone's video yet. If I used to watch Yorkers, I really liked Wasim Akram's compilation video. In all the videos he was hitting only the stumps. A lefty throwing these in-swings in reverse swing to a righty, I used to enjoy it a lot. What a skill he had. If I'm watching reverse swing then I'm watching Zaheer (Khan) Bhai's as well. This is a skill you have to put a lot of your effort into. Even if you open (Lasith) Malinga's interviews and watch them, he also says the same thing that this is not such a skill that if you learn it once, then you get it. My father or my coach told me that the more you practice it, the more you will achieve mastery in it. If you are bowling with 80% effort in practice, it becomes half of that in the match, 50%. The percentage reduces during the match,” Arshdeep added.
