"Take your ego and leave it at home", Brett Lee's advice to T20 bowlers
“I’m surprised you let Sachin get out that easily boys and girls,” former Australian speedster, Brett Lee would have surely witnessed the spectacle of Tendulkar being hounded by fans before, but the sight never ceases to amaze him. The Master Blaster came to support Brett in his new endeavour.
Lee who clocked 161.3 km/hr against New Zealand in 2002, is in Mumbai to launch Bowling Master – his attempt at entering the Start-up world. The product is a range of cricket training aids for bowlers. ‘Binga’ (Lee’s high school nickname) wishes to help bowlers gauge their bowling accuracy through colour coded devices that can be rolled out alongside the pitch.
“Bowling good length depends on which part of the game you’re in. With a brand-new ball, you’d aim to hit the good/full length. As the ball gets older, the ball bounces less, so if you’re bowling the good length delivery at the end of a T20 innings, you’re going to get smacked,” said Lee, speaking to reporters on Wednesday.
The Australian believes that bowlers haven’t been taking enough risk in the T20 format, which in turn has resulted in them suffering at the death overs. Playing it safe in the shorter format isn’t something he advocates.
“The yorker is the most important ball of the game. Personally, I think bowlers today don’t bowl enough yorkers. One thing I haven’t seen in the IPL is the slower ball bouncer, I also haven’t seen the wide line yorker. If you’re half a meter off, you’ll be hit for a six,” he explained.
Further asked about his pick among today’s bowlers, Lee reckons Jasprit Bumrah has mastered the art of bowling the perfect yorker, putting across the point that not many have been able to execute it to perfection.
“Bumrah is a guy that can bowl the perfect yorker. Guys that haven’t quite got it, go for six. A yorker is a good yorker in Test, ODI’s and T20 cricket. I still want to see bowlers executing it, it’s all about practice.”
At 4.76 runs per over, Lee had an immaculate economy rate in ODI’s compared to 7.86 in the 20 over format. The Australian believes bowlers have no room to have an ego in the shorter version of the game, stating that being cocky as a bowler will only lead to a negative outcome.
“T20 cricket exposes bowlers, I’ve always said that when you go and play cricket, shorter format of the game, take your ego and leave it at home, put it in a safe. If you try and bring your ego to the ground, you’re going to be hit for sixes.”
Over the course of the last couple of years, bowlers have been attempting a variety of lengths and speeds in their attempt to outfox batsmen. As cliched as it may sound, Lee suggested that aiming at the middle stump is the best way to go about your business.
“If I am bowling offside, off stump in the short zone, the only way of getting a wicket is caught behind. But if you’re bowling straight and in the good zone, you bring every kind of dismissal into play. We looked at Glenn McGrath pitch map, it’s incredible,” he signed off.