Young Bumrah taking his game to the next level

There is nothing classical about Jasprit Bumrah the medium pacer. His run-up is a bit tardy and unorganised which he corrects only towards its final stretch; his sling-arm action is quite awkward but confusing enough.

The Gujarat bowler, who was first noticed as a teenager by the Mumbai Indians’ scouts for his unusual action, has made some big strides in international cricket with his skills and pace. The 23-year-old has a great yorker which he can pull off at will. He has an effective bouncer and a slower ball both of which he has used with great impact in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka. Bumrah, the man of the in India’s series-clinching six-wicket win here on Sunday, claimed his first career five-for (5/27) to go with his 4/43 and 2/22 in the previous two matches of the series. No one has had more impact in the three-match-old series than Bumrah.

The Ahmedabad-born cricketer is easily the most improved Indian fast bowler in limited-overs cricket since his international debut at the start of 2016 in Australia. After his impressive introduction, he has been the most capped Indian bowler in ODIs and T20Is with more success than any other bowler. Between his T20I debut on January 23, 2016 and his latest ODI against Sri Lanka here on Sunday, Bumrah has played 19 matches in 50-over cricket and 24 of the T20s.

The right-arm quick has 37 sticks in ODIs at an average of 21.05 and an economy rate of 4.69 which is quite excellent by modern-day standards for the format. He has been equally impressive in T20Is as well, having grabbed 33 wickets at 17.78 with an economy of 6.58. These are the best stats (see box) for an Indian pacer who is in the scheme of things of limited-overs cricket and only Bhuvneshwar Kumar has economy rates in ODIs and T20Is that are below 5 and 7 respectively.

“As a bowler you have to constantly learn new things and that’s been my main aim all the time,” Bumrah said when asked how much has he evolved as a bowler in the last one and half years. “This is my first visit to Sri Lanka, so it is always a challenge to play in different conditions and I look to do that and asking questions to seniors as to what experience they have gained for so many years. I look to do that and this basic change that has come in me is that I always learn nowadays because as a youngster you don’t know what place you have to go and learn,” he offered. 

Bumrah’s unconventional bowling action may eventually take a toll on his body with his increasing number of appearances but for now he is enjoying the benefits that such unorthodox styles yield. That he has to keep adding new tricks to his armoury isn’t lost on the sharp-thinking paceman.

“Nowadays with technology coming into cricket people start to analyse and if you only have one or two tricks people will start to line you up,” he noted. “The things you do early on, people don’t know but once they start studying videos and know what to plan they know what to expect. So you have to keep on evolving and according to situations you have to adapt. Because, if you are just one-trick pony that won’t work for a long period of time. If you want to be successful you have to evolve according to the wickets and learn from all the experienced players and take the experience forward,” he emphasised. 

Someone like Bumrah is a captain’s delight because he offers you many options. He can open the attack, he can come in as first-change, he can give you breakthroughs in the middle overs and he can be as effective in the death as anyone else in the world today. In this series alone, he has donned all these roles with enviable success.

“I am happy as long as I am able to contribute to the team’s success,” he said when asked about bowling at different stages. “If the team wants me to bowl first-change, I am happy to do that. If they want me to bowl with the new ball, I am happy to do that. I have bowled with the new ball before when I came into the Indian team in the T20 format. I have been bowling first-change for Gujarat and in the IPL as well, I have got a little bit of experience there as well,” he explained.