“The find of the tour for me was Bumrah”, MS Dhoni had said after India whitewashed Australia in their own backyard in the T20I series. “I have always said that to be successful in the shorter format you have to execute the yorkers,” he had added. These words from the Indian captain really emphasise on the value that Jasprit Bumrah brings into Team India’s limited overs fortunes. He belongs to the rare breed of Indian pacers who can send down one yorker after another in the dying phase of the innings – something Dhoni has always longed for. Bumrah’s accuracy in the death overs gives the captain another significant advantage. To know that he has a pacer who will almost certainly keep things in control in the final overs means Dhoni does not have to hold back his spinners to pull things back together in the expensive slog overs. This was evident in the third T20I against Sri Lanka in Vizag, where Dhoni could give R Ashwin an opening spell of three overs, which yielded four wickets and put Sri Lanka on the ropes. Sure enough, it was Bumrah who came on to bowl the 18th over and finished off the Lankan innings with the final wicket. His bowling figures: 3-0-10-1. After India wrapped up the three-match T20I series, BCCI.TV caught up with Bumrah to speak to him about his special skills of death bowling. Here is what the 22-year old had to say. After the T20I series in Australia, MS Dhoni said that you were the find of the tour. What does that do to a youngster like you? Oh, it feels really nice. He is such an experienced cricketer and has been leading the team for so many years. If he says something like that for you, it gives you a lot of confidence as a youngster. Death bowling has been India’s strongest suit over the years. But with your ability to bowl yorkers consistently it seems like the team is getting sorted in that department. I would like to think so. It is a very difficult art to master; nobody can really master it completely. I bowl in the death for my state, Gujarat, as well as for Mumbai Indians in the IPL. So, I have a bit of experience in that regards. I am trying to live up to the expectations. Given your unique bowling action, is it easier for you to get the yorker right more often than most other pacers? It is definitely not easy. I used to play a lot of tennis ball cricket before I started serious cricket. And there you only bowl yorkers. That’s probably why I am groomed to bowl yorkers. But I still practise it a lot. In every net session I ensure that I practise death bowling. And I am trying my best to execute them in a match properly. When you bowl to a batsman, do you get the feeling that he is distracted by your action and is not able to pick you? I don’t think it is just the action because most of them have played me in the IPL for quite a while. Someone who is facing me for the first time might find it difficult. But more than the action the execution is very important – the line, length and the variations. I think that is the main thing which is helping me right now. Your first taste of international cricket came on the batting beauties of wickets in Australia. How was that experience? I was watching the ODI series from home and keeping an eye on what was happening in those matches. When I went there, we were 0-4 down. Before my first game everyone in the team told me to treat it as any other domestic game and play as if I play for Gujarat. That really gave me the freedom to express myself. Once I did that, I grew in confidence. I carried that confidence into the T20Is in Australia and in this series. And now you are back bowling in India. None of the pitches in this series were out and out batting wickets. This is my first home series playing for India, and I was really looking forward to it. After the Australia tour a lot of people could have said, ‘He is a one-time wonder’. So, I was really looking forward to doing well in this series as well. In India you find a lot of different types of wickets – the one in Pune was seaming, this one had turn. In the ICC World Twenty20 we will get a lot of different wickets. Experiences like this series will help me in the coming matches. You will be part of an Indian World Cup squad for the first time. Has it sunk in yet? No, it hasn’t. We are continuously playing since the Australian tour, and I haven’t had the time to think about that. It is important to focus on what is next. Now it is the Asia Cup, and I have to focus on that. Probably when I get some time, I would be able to process all of it.