Top 6 death-over bowlers of the last 25 years

Having bowlers who can bowl well at the death is paramount in order for teams to be successful in the limited-overs formats of the game of cricket. Teams conceding runs at 10-12 runs per over in the last few overs of an ODI or T20 innings has become commonplace these days, highlighting the lack of skilful death bowlers in the modern era. In defence of the present day bowlers though, it needs to be said that the introduction of bigger bats and smaller boundariesover the last few years, has made the task of containing runs at the end of an innings excruciatingly difficult. However, there are a few bowlers who have been able to execute their skills at the end of an innings with perfection and are, therefore, like gold dust to their teams.Here are the top 5 death bowlers of the last 2 decades:

#6 Umar Gul

Gul might have tapered off in recent times due to a spate of injuries and loss of form, but there is no doubt that he is one of the best death bowlers we have seen in recent times. A good exponent of reverse swing bowling, he is at his most dangerous during the death overs when the ball is old and in the right condition for reverse swing. There have been plenty of times when Pakistan have looked in trouble with the opposition coasting to a huge total before Gul’s reintroduction into the attack, with the batting side looking for quick runs, has triggered a massive collapse.

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#5 Saeed Ajmal

Saeed Ajmal was perhaps one of the first spinners to bowl during the latter overs of an innings on a regular basis. There are many spinners who have followed him in doing so but few do it as effectively. A quintessential modern-day offspinner who uses the doosra more than the orthodox off break while bowling at the death, he has been incredibly effective as his economy rate of 6.34 in T20 internationals suggests. The reason for his success is the fact that he is a highly attacking bowler who is never content at just keeping the runs down, which is why he has been able to pick up an impressive 85 wickets from 63 T20 internationals.

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#4 Wasim Akram

Wasim Akram was probably one of the first bowlers to master the art of bowling during the death overs. In the 1990s, Akram was entrusted with the responsibility of bowling during the last few overs of an innings for Pakistan, and he delivered more often than not.

From a batsman’s perspective, the fact that Akram had the ability to bowl yorkers at 90 mph consistently was hard enough, but his skill in being able to generate prodigious reverse swing while doing so made it nigh-on impossible for the batsman to survive against him, let alone score runs. While he didn’t play in the era of T20 cricket, where even the best of bowlers are prone to getting a hammering, there is no doubt that Akram would have posed more of a threat to batsmen than bowlers of today.

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#3 Sunil Narine

Sunil Narine has played nowhere near as many T20 games as Ajmal, but Narine is on an equal footing with Ajmal, if not ahead, when it comes to his ability as a bowler during the death overs. Despite having been in the international scene for the last 2-3 years, no batsman has been successful in unraveling the mystery behind Narine. The West Indian offspinner, in addition to the conventional off break, possesses a knuckle ball which turns in the opposite direction to the off break.

He also has a calm demeanour and does not get flustered irrespective of the situation confronting him, thereby giving confidence to his captain of getting the job done. His rise in such a short span of time has been extraordinary, and he has become a must-have in every limited-overs side. Recently, he did the unthinkable as he bowled a maiden in a Super Over during a CPL T20 game, highlighting his extreme skill in such situations.

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#2 Waqar Younis

Waqar Younis was a bit more potent than Akram when it came to bowling during the end overs of an innings. At their peaks, Younis was probably a yard quicker than Akram and his slingy, round-arm action enabled him to obtain late reverse swing, making him a touch more effective than the latter. Younis’ trademark delivery was the inswinging yorker: a delivery which would start well outside off-stump to the right-hander with no movement initially, only for it to end up swinging in really late and knock the leg-stump out of the ground.

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#1 Lasith Malinga

Lasith Malinga is arguably the best death bowler the game has ever seen. His ability to bowl yorkers on demand coupled with his distinctively round-arm action has made it incredibly hard for batsmen to score runs off him. Apart from the skills he possesses to bowl at the death, what is evident is the fact that he enjoys being given the responsibility of bowling at the death, which is imperative considering the fickle nature of the format.

After Malinga’s early years, batsmen slowly started coming to grips with his style of bowling. They started standing deep in their crease with the aim of converting his yorkers into low full tosses. The Sri Lankan was guilty of overusing the yorker on a few occasions and started to leak more runs than he initially used to. Malinga, being the shrewd bowler that he is, quickly realized this and added a deadly slower ball, which rises above the eye-level of the batsman before dipping at the very last moment, to his armoury, making him doubly effective.

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