5 Best Death Overs Specialist Bowlers to be seen at the 2016 T20 World Cup

Excitement is at a sky-high for the World T20 which is to be flagged off with the India-New Zealand match at Nagpur on Tuesday. However, the downside of excitement is that it can often throw rational thinking into disorder, an inherent danger of the T20 format – where the winner is often whose nerves are of the stronger steel.A vital part of the artillery required to win T20 matches is the bowler who can be called upon to bowl the closing overs of the batting innings, when batsmen usually throw caution to the wind and attempt to heave everything coming to their way out of the stadium.The qualities required to perfect this trade are intuition (to know what the batsman will do), intelligence (to counter what the batsman will do), and the coldest professional head (to shut out all the noise and the significance of the moment) – not to mention a wide variety of deliveries at disposal.If any bowler is to turn out to be a matchwinner in these upcoming T20 matches, with whose performance the memories of this tournament will be interminably linked in years to come, it is likely to be one of these ‘merchants of death’:

#1 Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah has been one of the brightest finds for the Indian cricket team in recent times, and one of the best fast bowlers to have emerged in the international arena recently. Bumrah has been learning the art of death bowling at Mumbai Indians, bowling alongside Lasith Malinga, but his breakthrough for the Indian team has been even more sensational than he would have expected.

Bumrah has played all of the 11 T20s India have played this year, having picked up 15 wickets at a marvellous economy rate of 6.15 – his statistics being good enough to put him ahead of Mohammed Shami in the pecking order.

Captain MS Dhoni has increasingly relied on the Gujarat youngster to bowl in the final overs, while relying on Ashish Nehra in the initial overs. In his breakthrough series in Australia earlier this year, Bumrah had picked 5 of his 6 wickets in the last 4 overs of matches.

Bumrah’s unorthodox action, his yorkers which dip very late and his inscrutable slower balls are all elements which batsmen in aggressive mode find hard to deal with. Bumrah bowled 10 yorkers in the Australia-India T20I series, conceding four runs and taking two wickets.

If the World T20 title is to be decided in the last over a match and some Indian bowler is called upon to do the job which Joginder Sharma had done in 2007, there is a high chance that this task will be given to the 22-year-old Bumrah.

#2 Kagiso Rabada

Dale Steyn has proved himself to be South Africa’s dependable go-to man in the past few years, often coming up with sparkling spells right at the death. However, the man more entrusted with death overs duties in the current Proteas team is 20-year-old Kagiso Rabada, one of the most exciting cricketers of the new generation.

Rabada was lifted to superstardom in the India-South Africa series last year, when he defended 11 runs off the last over bowling to MS Dhoni, one of the best batsmen when it comes to finishing matches. The boy from Gauteng finished the series with 10 wickets at an average of 24, an indication of his proficiency in Indian conditions.

While there were questions immediately raised about Dhoni’s finishing capabilities, a new death overs star had been born in Rabada.

Picked ahead of Morne Morkel, the youngster has a big role to play if South Africa are to go on to World T20 glory. Have the Proteas finally unearthed a talent who can rid them of the unjustified ‘chokers’ tag?

#3 James Faulkner

James Faulkner has proved himself to be a wily customer with the ball when it comes to bowling in the final overs of innings. His back-of-the-hand slower ball is something that can give nightmares to those in the batting lineup whose job it is to play aggressive cricket.

He has spoken at length about his adeptness at flummoxing batsmen in the final overs, saying that because his role as a batsman in the team is to hit balls out of the park, he can think like batsmen in a similar aggressive mode when bowling to them. He had also revealed that he bowls to the designated finisher of teams at nets, perfecting the art of executing yorkers, slower ones and slower bouncers.

12 out of Faulkner’s 19 wickets in T20Is have come in the last 4 overs of matches, but his most explosive shows of death overs bowling have come in the T20 domestic leagues, for Rajasthan Royals and Melbourne Stars.

#4 Adam Milne

23-year-old Adam Milne is considered to be the first genuinely quick fast bowler after Shane Bond to have been produced from New Zealand , and it seems that the worst of his injury troubles are behind him.

Milne’s raw pace puts him in the elite list of bowlers who have crossed the 150 km/h mark on the speed gun, and just his speed manages to rattle many batsmen, as can be seen from his figures in the T20I series against Pakistan this year – 4/37 and 3/8.

However, pace is not Milne’s only asset, he has shown an uncanny ability to hit the blockhole at great speeds as well. In the warm-up match against Sri Lanka in Mumbai last week, he took 3 wickets for 26 runs in his four overs, and was the pick of the bowlers from among both sides.

It shall be interesting to see how new captain Kane Williamson uses his fast bowlers, but the 2016 World T20 could well turn out to be owned by Adam Milne, the not-so-feared Kiwi pacer.

#5 Ravindra Jadeja

After Saeed Ajmal and Sunil Narine’s ejection from international cricket, it is Ravindra Jadeja who is at the moment the most dependable spinner in world cricket with regards to bowling at the death. South Africa’s Imran Tahir might give him close competition, and Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi will not be too far behind, as seen from recent matches.

Jadeja is often introduced by Dhoni after the first 10 overs, and he is asked to continuously bowl from one end in the later half of the innings. He does not give the ball much flight, instead pumping in straight deliveries, alternated with the odd flipper. His disciplined line and rythm makes it very difficult for batsmen to dispatch his deliveries for big shots.

If Shami is not played in the tournament owing to lack of match practice, Bumrah and Jadeja will be called upon to do most of India’s bowling in the last 4 overs.

Honourable Mentions: Mohammed Shami and Lasith Malinga are part of their respective countries’ WT20 squads and have both been exceptional bowlers at the death overs, but they are both returning from long-term injuries. Neither are their places in the playing XIs confirmed, nor is it guaranteed that they can hit the ground running. Another veteran, Wahab Riaz, is known to make a killing at the death overs as well.