There are bowlers in world cricket, who rely heavily on the overhead conditions, the state of the ball, the surface and a slew of other factors, and even if one of these turn against them, it gets difficult for them to claim the all-important breakthroughs.
Then there are other bowlers, who don't give two hoots about the external factors. They are akin to a child playing in the backyard. Give him a ball and he will run in with all his strength and bowl with all his might, day in and day out.
Jasprit Jasbirsingh Bumrah exudes a similar demeanour, whether he is bowling on a concrete road or a damp deck. It does not make a whole lot of difference to him, for he does not rely on the conditions as much.
Sanjay Mittal, an aerospace engineering professor at IIT-Kanpur, recently came up with a scientific explanation behind Bumrah's success. Mittal attributed his effectiveness to what he referred to as the reverse Magnus force.
Mittal found that Bumrah's speed, seam position and rotational speed of 1,000 RPM gives 0.1 spin ratio to the ball, which puts it into reverse Magnus effect regime.
Till date Bumrah has played one-day internationals in England only once during the 2017 Champions Trophy. The Gujarat bowler was only 23-year-old then and it was his first year in the international cricket. The tournament went well for India, only to be spoiled by Pakistan in the final.
Cut to 2019, Bumrah returns to England as the No. 1 ODI bowler. Since his last limited-overs appearance in England, he has picked up 89 wickets, from 591.2 overs across all formats at an average of 21.85 and an economy rate of 3.28, the most wickets by any Indian bowler.
At a time when 100 runs and more are being scored in last 10 overs for fun in the UK, here is a death specialist who barely concedes more than run-a-ball in the final overs. Not only does the slinger, bowl extremely tight overs but picks up wickets which turn the match on its head.
After resting through India's tour of the trans-tasman nations, except the T20Is against Australia, Bumrah looked on song right from the first ball on his return to international cricket in the home series against Australia. With no signs of slowing down or lack of match practice, he was back in his stride and dished out match-winning performances.
It is no wonder then that when Bumrah suffered a freak injury while trying to stop a ball in his follow through, during the first T20I against Ireland, India’s bowling struggled to stem the flow of runs on the Men in Blue's last tour of the UK. However, this time, the maestro is back and with him, back are our hopes of humbling England in their den.
While other bowlers will be busy adjusting to the overhead conditions and the surface, all Bumrah will do is to come bustling with Wasim Akram's run-up, Shoaib Akhtar's hyperextension and Lasith Malinga's ingenuity, and produce what can only be called pure magic.
(Saksham Mishra is a freelance sports journalist, justifying hours of watching sports by scribbling down a few logical lines that might just about hold your interest. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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