Cricket is a game of several arts, and bowling is among them. Various facets of bowling make a bowler complete. Cricket is a game of fitness, mental strength, stamina, and endurance, and a bowler needs to have it all to succeed at the highest level.
Apart from the aspects mentioned above, there are the skills that make a bowler a genuine match-winner or a pace spearhead for his side. A bowler must be able to adapt to any condition and bowl at any phase of an innings, be it with the new ball, in the middle overs or at the death overs with the old cherry at hand.
In this article, our main focus will be on the most important area of limited overs cricket- death overs bowling. The final phase of an innings in white ball cricket is usually a game-changing moment and a momentum shift. The team that finishes the innings well invariably holds the upper hand when it comes to the 2nd innings.
So the end of the innings is equally important for the bowling side as that of the batting side, and thus, the bowler who is bowling at the latter phase of an innings should be highly at what he/she does in the death overs.
Here we will list some of the bowlers who were/are known for their death bowling in international cricket.
#7 Haris Rauf (Pakistan)
Pakistan is known to produce high-quality pacers who can be tearaway fast bowlers, and one such example is Haris Rauf, who impressed all the pundits with his raw pace and accuracy. He doesn’t take the new ball for the teams he plays, but in the middle and the death overs, Rauf makes the maximum impact.
He has a toe-crushing yorker at his disposal, which tests the best of batters around the globe, and his pace is difficult to get away with. In short, Haris Rauf is one of the best death overs bowlers in the world of cricket.
#6 Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh)
Known as the Fizz, this Bangladeshi left-arm seamer has become one of their mainstays in the bowling attack. Though his returns with the new ball are good, it is with the older ball he makes things happen with his excellent change of pace and variations.
Especially in the slow tracks of Asia, Mustafizur sometimes becomes unplayable and often takes the bulk of wickets when he is in full rhythm. The medium pacer has thus made it to the list of best-known death bowlers in world cricket.
#5 Jofra Archer (England)
One of the most feared bowlers in the modern game, Jofra Archer, made rapid strides in his brief career until a slew of injuries hit him. But till then, the England pacer was among the best in the world when it came to bowling at the death.
With his rapid pace, Archer used to rush the batters and had a good repertoire of short balls and Yorkers in his arsenal. This makes him one of the most complete bowlers in limited overs cricket, and Archer not only chips in with wickets in the end overs but also seldom goes for runs.
Worthy Read: What makes Jofra Archer lethal and pacy?
#4 Dwayne Bravo (West Indies)
The West Indies champion bowler Dwayne Bravo was one of the cleverest operators when it came to bowling at the death. At the start of his career, he used to be quick and had a great yorker up his sleeve, but as his career went on, Bravo lost his pace considerably.
Despite that fact, Bravo became an even more dangerous bowler when it came to the death overs thanks to his accurate Yorkers and use of his deceiving slow deliveries that most often fetched his wickets in limited overs cricket.
#3 Mitchell Starc (Australia)
The left-arm pacer is a genuine wicket-taker in white ball cricket, and one of the reasons why he is highly successful is due to the volume of wickets he takes in the death overs of an innings. He bowls with the new ball and invariably picks the top-order wickets, but it is in the few overs where he is at his lethal best.
He has one of the best Yorkers in cricket and uses it perfectly. Most often than not, he picks wickets in the final few overs of the game, be it of the settled batters or the lower order. Captains prefer him to clean up the tail, and on most occasions, he delivers.
Relevant Read: Top 10 Yorker Bowlers in International Cricket
#2 Jasprit Bumrah (India)
Post the Malinga era, which was fantastic, the throne of being the finest death bowler can go to Jasprit Bumrah of India. The star pacer grew leaps and bounds under the mentorship of the former in Mumbai Indians and then became one of the best death bowlers the world has ever seen.
Like Malinga, Bumrah also possesses a unique action that sometimes confuses batters, and he has a fantastic yorker at his disposal. Bumrah takes wickets regularly in the death overs, and his pinpoint accuracy means he is highly economical in the death overs.
Relevant Read: What makes Bumrah Special?
#1 Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka)
There is no place for guessing who could be regarded as the finest death bowler the game has ever seen, and it has to be the former Sri Lankan speedster Lasith Malinga. With his sling bowling action, Lasith bamboozled even the best of the batters on his hay day, not just with the new ball in the head where he could swing the ball, but also at the death where he had his potent yorkers, which he could bowl at will and a high pace.
Malinga can be regarded as the pioneer of the art known as death bowling, and he has inspired several upcoming bowlers like him in Sri Lanka and across the world.
You can also go on to read the highest wicket-takers in death-overs in ODIs and T20Is in the respective blogs.
