When Indian skipper Rohit Sharma handed over the ball to Jasprit Bumrah to bowl the 16th over in the finals of the T20 World Cup, South Africa needed 30 runs out of 30 balls to win its first T20 title. The odds had started to get against India, and it wasn’t without a reason that the hitman had picked up Boom Boom Bumrah at the crucial juncture.
The last five overs were decisive. Bumrah did not disappoint and only gave six runs in 12 balls, also picking up Marco Jansen’s wicket. In the fourth ball of the 18th over, Bumrah dislodged Jansen’s leg stump.
The Indian pacer, considered best fast bowler by all those who matter in the cricketing world, returned with 15 wickets from 8 matches in the T20 WC. In the format where the best bowlers are hit for massive sixes and boundaries, his figures are mind-boggling. Each wicket at 8.26 per piece and at an average of 4.17 runs per over. No wonder then that he was adjudged the player of the tournament.
When he started the 18th over, SA needed only 22 from 18 balls. But, Bumrah being Bumrah, he had other plans in mind – his first cup in any format of the WC.
Economy and the ability to take wickets at the right time, has been the hallmark of this right-arm fast bowler with unorthodox action. And even if he is unable to take wickets in some matches, the accuracy with which he bowls and his application of mind irritates the batsmen, who try to attack bowler at the other hand and in the process lose wickets.
As his U-19 coach Rajiv Desai told Vibes of India, Bumrah is a natural bowler and is accurate and quick.
The 30-year-old pace bowler has 384 wickets in 303 T20 matches, 149 wickets in 89 ODIs and 159 wickets in 36 tests.
Desai said nobody tried to change Bumrah’s action as it was natural. In one U-19 match against Karnataka, he took three wickets. Thereafter in the Sayed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, a domestic T20 championship organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Bumrah took three wickets against Punjab in the finals in 2013-14 in Indore, Desai recalled.
Desai, who is also former coach of the Gujarat Ranji Trophy team for which Bumrah plays, said his claim to fame was his performance in the finals of the Sayed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. After that, Bumrah and Axar Patel were picked up for the Mumbai Indians to play in the IPL. John Wright was searching for talent, and he spotted Bumrah in one of the matches, Desai added.
The former coach recalled that Bumrah has always been focused on cricket and he practices in the nets as if he is playing in the match.
Bumrah bowls at an average speed of 140 plus km/hr and has clocked 153 plus km/hr as the highest speed.
Experts feel that his shorter run-up and the pace that he generates makes him prone to injury.
He was out of action since September 2022 and missed the T20 2022 World Cup in Australia and IPL 2023. He underwent a surgery for stress fracture on his back in March 2023. After his surgery, he underwent a four-month intensive rehabilitation procedure at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. He made a comeback on the cricketing scene in August 2023 during India’s three-match T20 series against Ireland.
In 2024, Mumbai Indians performed badly in the IPL. The team’s collective economy of 10.04 in the first six matches was one of the worst for any IPL team in 2024. However, Bumrah’s economy rate was 6.08 and he had picked up 10 wickets averaging 14.60.
Interestingly, Bumrah first played the IPL for Mumbai Indians and then played the Ranji Trophy for Gujarat.
In his early teens, Bumrah started playing at his school – Nirman High School – where his mother Daljit was then the principal of the pre-primary section.
Among the several records to his credit include becoming the second-highest wicket-taker for Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy season of 2015-16. Thereafter, he also played a major role when India defeated Australia 3-0 in the T20I in Australia.
For Bumrah, who is looked up to by hundreds and thousands of youngsters, it has been only rise and rise. And the manner in which he is going, there are more matches for him and more records to be broken by him.
Also Read: RCB Names Dinesh Karthik as Batting Coach and Mentor
Very well worded Nandini…