A thinking bowler’s road to redemption

"See, at the end of the day you guys will anyway decide that I was like this, I was like that, what I am doing," said Jasprit Bumrah on Wednesday night when asked if he was feeling on top of his game since his comeback a couple of months ago from a back injury that sidelined him for nearly a year. While the reply might have sounded a bit bitter, even misdirected, one will have to understand where the pacer was coming from.

Even as the 29-year-old went through a boring, rigorous rehabilitation programme for months with his name missing from the Indian squad for every major and minor assignment, remarks were passed that were downright insensitive and unfounded.

While a few comments sarcastically suggested that he would be fit for the IPL, questioning his drive to play for the country again, others doubted if he would ever be the same bowler after such a serious injury which required surgery.

"I am, as a person, a little detached. I don't know what's going around in the world. So, I just looked at what I have to do on that particular day and obviously reading the game, reading my strengths and what has worked for me in the past as well... Keeping all of those things in mind, (I) keep going forward," Bumrah added.

Sounds quite simple, unlike his bowling which remains as menacing as it was before surgery. The disconcerting pace and spellbinding skills have stayed loyal to him but his adaptability in conditions that have little to offer for bowlers has been striking.

For the second game in succession, Bumrah displayed his remarkable ability to take the conditions out of equation and stay as impactful. On a spinner-friendly Chennai surface, he had figures of 2/35, including the wicket of opener Mitchell Marsh early in the innings. In Delhi, on a wicket that had runs written all over it, the right-arm quick bagged 4/39 in a fine exhibition of pace bowling.

Even as Mohammed Siraj -- who has come a long way as a white-ball bowler in the last one and a half years and has even pipped senior pacer Mohammed Shami in the pecking order -- leaked runs, struggling to hit the right rhythm and range on a flat deck, Bumrah produced three outstanding spells that restricted Afghanistan to a below par total. He even managed to seam the ball away just that bit for opener Ibrahim Zadran to edge it behind to KL Rahul. Bumrah stood still, pressing his temple with index finger, a la England footballer Marcus Rashford, perhaps indicating that he had outwitted the batter.

It's these little smarts that he introduces at various stages of play that help him stand apart. While credit should also be given to skipper Rohit Sharma for using the Gujarat bowler in short spells, Bumrah was exceptional in the way he exploited both the new and old balls.

In the opening spell (4-1-9-1), he was fresh and worked up good pace, apart from procuring natural movement with the new ball. In the middle overs, he came back to put a brake on the scoring rate (3-0-12-0) before rounding off with a final spell 3-0-18-3 in the death where he varied pace to induce false shots.      

"Obviously, in this format, you have to understand what is working," said Bumrah of how he approaches bowling in ODIs. "Some days there will be some swing, so your lengths would change. But this wicket was quite a batting track, we realised that early on. There was a little bit of seam but the ball was coming on to the bat really well from the first over. We realised that, so we were just trying to hit the hard length, try to make it as difficult as possible and try to make them hit difficult shots."

From someone who tasted immediate success with his unique sling-arm action and natural pace, Bumrah has evolved into a thinking bowler who has understood the importance of reinventing himself to stay on top of his game. As ever, he will be pivotal to India’s plans as the World Cup marathon enters its next stretch.