He doesn’t have that typical fast bowler’s action. He doesn’t glare, but smiles after beating a batsman all ends up. But still he wreaks havoc whenever he has the red or white cherry in his hand. That in a nutshell is Jasprit Bumrah for you.
Save Kapil Dev, there hasn’t been any Indian fast bowler who has been so talked about. May be because of his ungainly action, the toe-crushing yorkers or his ability to bowl consistently at the 145-kmph speed – all have combined to make Jasprit Bumrah one of the most sensational bowlers in the history of Indian cricket. His international career is just a little over three-and-half-years old and yet he already has 209 wickets in his kitty in the three formats of the game. The consistency with which he dismisses batsmen in Test cricket and the way he chokes up runs in the death overs of the shorter formats have made him a bowler to fear.
It is important to note that Jasprit Bumrah is not ready to sit on his laurels. Just the other day after decimating the West Indies, he was asked about how he developed the ‘outswinger’. Bumrah said, “I am constantly trying to evolve, add more variety to my repertoire because if I don’t do so, people will fathom me out. I can’t just depend on my uncommon bowling action, I have to have enough weapons in my armoury to pick up wickets.” No doubt, very worrying if you are a batsman.
It is rare for Australians to come out openly in praise of an Indian fast bowler. But two legendary Australian pacers, Glenn McGrath and Mitchell Johnson – have time and again heaped praise on Bumrah. During India’s last tour Down Under, Bumrah was instrumental in helping his country secure a historic series victory.
“I have never quite seen anyone like him,” McGrath was quoted as saying by a section of the Australian media. “He has a whippy action, short run-up, but has this ability to make the ball climb awkwardly for any batsman. He also makes the ball move both ways and has a deadly yorker. A very complete bowler,” McGrath stated.
Mitchell Johnson has been Bumrah’s IPL teammate in Mumbai Indians. “I was impressed the first day I saw him. He hit me on the helmet at the nets. Bumrah keeps things simple and he is pretty quick,” Johnson was quoted as saying by a cricket-specific website.
Since he burst on to the international scene in January 2016 in the shorter formats of the game, Bumrah has gone from strength to strength. Being nurtured none other than the Sri Lankan great Lasith Malinga at Mumbai Indians have helped in his development. Now Bumrah is India’s all-condition, all-pitches and all-format bowler… someone whom Virat Kohli can’t do without.
Bumrah is in fact the first person to acknowledge the contribution of Malinga to his development as a fast bowler. From Malinga, he learnt emotional discipline and how to separate the situation from the solution. “That is why, I don’t panic, I always listen to my inner voice whatever the situation of the match may be. Because then only I will come up with solutions,” Bumrah has recently been quoted as saying by a magazine.
Just a year after his international debut, Bumrah was playing the Champions Trophy final against Pakistan in 2017. India lost that game and Bumrah bowled three no balls. The one which is most remembered is the one he bowled in the fourth over. The delivery dismissed centurion Fakhar Zaman, but did not matter as Bumrah had over-stepped. The country blamed him, the fans abused him and even former cricketers took pot shots against the youngster, who was then just getting to know how to tread on international cricket.
Since then Bumrah has bowled close to 440 overs in white ball cricket. The number of no balls bowled six… yes just six. It just goes to show, how much of hard work the man ‘Boom’ is ready to put in to eradicate his flaws… that too on a left knee ligament reconstructed and held together by titanium screws.
Bumrah has been the fast bowler India have been yearning for decades. He has finally arrived, no doubt about that. The legendary Neville Cardus had once said, “Scoreboard is an ass” and “We remember not the scores and results, it is the men who remain in our minds, in our imagination”.
Well for Bumrah the scoreboard does speak about his abilities and with his action, accuracy and that peevish smile after a dismissal of an opposition batsman, he has certainly caught our imaginations.
Tests-11 Wickets-55 BB-6/33 5W/I-4
ODIs-58 Wickets-103 BB-5/27 5W/I-1 Ecn-4.49
T20s- 42 Wickets-51 BB-3/11 5W/I-0 Ecn-6.71
Sakyasen Mittra