India’s star bowler Jasprit Bumrah is known for his variations where the slower deliveries are one of his potent weapon, which he has developed brilliantly over the years. However, Pakistan-born UAE bowler Zahoor Khan has made a startling claim in a video that it was him who taught Bumrah how to bowl the slow deliveries without changing his action during the 2019 IPL.
Zahoor revealed that when he was a net bowler with Mumbai Indians in the UAE leg of the Indian Premier League that is when Bumrah discussed the art of bowling slower deliveries with him.
“Let me tell you a story. Bumrah used to bowl slower balls before, but with normal action. In one of the matches in Abu Dhabi, he, Trent Boult, and Nathan Coulter-Nile conceded a lot of runs. The IPL was happening in September that year. In September, in the UAE, it’s 50 degrees. It’s very hot. You can’t even hold the ball properly at night because it gets wet,” Zahoor said in the video.
“So Mumbai Indians called me, I did quarantine for six days, went to practice on the 7th day. I was with the team that night. Zaheer Khan and Robin Singh knew me because I did a maiden over in T10 league. I bowled the first one yorker and next five deliveries were slower ones. So we were sitting together, Bumrah came and sat in front of the table, Rohit Sharma came and sat there, I was sitting there, I was watching,” Zahoor added.
Zahoor continued and said that the Mumbai Indians support staff were aware of my skills because of the T10 league. He added that Bumrah practised with him in the nets with Mumbai’s head coach and bowling coach also present.
“I said, in the same action, in the same grip. He said, how is this possible? I said, I’ll tell you in practice. He said, okay you have to tell me your grip in the next practice. I said, okay. When the practice came, I was bowling. Shane Bond was the bowling coach of Mumbai Indians. And Mahela Jayawardene was standing behind the nets. So I came and did a slower bouncer. It beat the batsman. Shane Bond said, what is your grip? Do you bowl off-cutters? I said, no, it’s the same grip.”
“He said show me, I threw it like this and then two or three slower balls. So he told Jayawardene that this is a new thing in cricket. He said, ‘Look how good he bowls the slower balls, in the same action and arm speed. So after a day or two, I was bowling with Bumrah. So he said, Paaji, what is your grip, show me. So I showed him, it’s the same. I threw it like this, it has to come in the same action. So he bowled and said, ‘this is the next level thing.’ I mean, I’m a player for UAE right now and he’s a world-class bowler. So I really liked that thing that he’s such a big star and he was asking me,” he also said.
Bumrah was India’s go-to bowler during India’s victorious campaign at the 2026 T20 World Cup. India’s star bowler was the Player of the Match in the final against New Zealand where he finished with figures of 4 for 15 and was also the highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 14 scalps off eight matches.
