He may not like to admit it, but Jasprit Bumrah has spent a better part of his three year international career proving critics wrong.
At first, he was considered good enough just for Twenty20 cricket, and then slowly got accepted as a one-day bowler. When he succeeded in these two white-ball formats, he was earmarked by the team think tank as someone to bank on for Tests, but the world was not convinced.
Doubters Doubt
Former West Indies pace bowling legend Michael Holding was quite vocal on Bumrah’s possible career as Test cricketer before he made his debut in South Africa last year.
“I am not sure he is going to be a good new ball bowler. He struggles to take the ball away from right-handers when bowling with the new ball. So he wouldn’t be my first choice (on overseas tours). My first choice is always Bhuvneshwar Kumar,” Holding told PTI. Holding’s message in particular was clear that Bumrah would not start for him in the India XI, especially during the Tests in England later in 2018.
Bumrah made an instant impact in South Africa during the Tests. Then in England when his start was delayed by an injury, Bumrah’s absence was felt majorly. He made an instant impact thereafter.
Holding was not the only one who has been proved wrong by Bumrah. The first leader of the Indian pace attack which actually started its formal journey in 1978-79, Kapil Dev too was not convinced about Bumrah. His unconventional action and approach to bowling did not sit well with the great Kapil.
Proved Them Wrong
But when Bumrah bowled to India to a famous first-ever Test series win in Australia in 2018-19, Kapil too joined the bandwagon.
“I have to tell you that Bumrah has proved me wrong. When I saw him first time I had thought (whether) he could last long with this kind of action, but he has. His mindset must be strong.”Kapil Dev to Times of India
It is this strength of his mind that has helped Bumrah evolve, and made him first amongst equals in an otherwise even pace bowling line-up.
Feet on the Ground
“I don’t take praise or criticism seriously,” is how Bumrah summed up his state of mind. He just smiles his way through adversity and hardly ever appears angry on the field. Unlike fast bowling peers who like to snarl and make gestures or make bold statements, Bumrah is the typical genial Indian quick bowler. In his time, Javagal Srinath the leader of the attack through the 1990s was criticised for being too nice. But for Bumrah, this same nicety is considered an asset, because he does it with a smile!
Since Srinath’s time, we have had aggressive leaders like Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma who changed the way India’s new-ball bowlers were looked at. Bumrah is a step ahead of all three put together, right now. In that he is quicker than what all three ever were at their peak. Skill-wise he can still learn and get better, but he has managed to hit the peak, especially in ODIs, much before all three.
Rise Through the Ranks
Srinath took time to adjust to the ODI format. Zaheer became better with time and played a huge part in India’s win in the 2011 World Cup. Ishant on the other hand, has never managed to play white-ball cricket consistently since his debut in 2007.
That’s the reason why Bumrah’s rise in the last 18 months has been nothing short of spectacular. To hear a clean striker of the ball like England’s Ben Stokes admit that he just does not how to hit Bumrah is as big a tribute as it gets.
There is therefore no doubt that Bumrah is probably the most valuable player for India, alongside skipper Virat Kohli and ODI vice-captain Rohit Sharma at this World Cup.
He has emerged as the third most successful bowler with 17 scalps. He has bowled the second most (behind Jofra Archer) number of maiden overs (8) in eight matches of the tournament.
Yorker’s the Key
Bumrah’s consistency to bowl Yorkers at will in the limited-overs format, especially at the death, makes him the go-to bowler for skipper Kohli. It is an ability which was missing from the time Srinath bowled in the 1990s. Zaheer yorked his way into our minds in his debut season in 2000-01, while Ishant was never one to execute those skills.
But Bumrah was cut from a different cloth. His experience with tennis ball cricket and his time in the Indian Premier League (IPL) made him adept at delivering the yorkers and generally in bowling under pressure in white-ball cricket. So much so that one of the talent scouts of IPL franchise Mumbai Indians, Kiran More, also a former India stumper, termed him as India’s Lasith Malinga.
Learning from the Best
The original Malinga too praised his ward at the end of his World Cup 2019 campaign. "I saw him (Bumrah) in 2013 and spent time with him. He was hungry to learn, and he learnt quickly. Hunger to learn is very important. Bumrah has shown the character in a short period," Malinga was quoted as saying by IANS. "He is a skilful bowler and knows he can bowl same balls one after the other. The thing is anyone can bowl yorkers, slower ones and good length balls. But the idea is to have the accuracy," added Malinga.
India took a big gamble by selecting just three quick bowlers in the World Cup squad of XV. It put huge onus on Bumrah to lead from the front. That’s the sort of impact Bumrah has had on the thinking of the Indian team management, that they are able to entrust him with such extra responsibility.
Evolving with Time
Two years ago when he did the biggest double fault of his career, scalping Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman off a no-ball in the Champions Trophy final, it appeared that the world had come crashing down around him. Unsavoury memes, social media trolling and bitter comments that followed would have left anyone demoralised, but not Bumrah.
"I think I'm still the same person, maybe two years older or three years older. I always want to keep learning. I want to keep evolving. That has always been my game," summed up Bumrah about his philosophy.
In a sense Bumrah is really an old-fashioned cricketer who likes to do the simple things right like preparing well, take his own decisions and sum up the situation accordingly. But despite his old fashioned approach he has managed to carve a niche for himself in modern-day cricket.
That in a sense sums up why he is India’s match-winner, dare we say this, even bigger than the batting greats of this era, because it is after all the bowlers who win you major tournaments.
(Chandresh Narayanan is a former cricket writer with The Times of India, The Indian Express, ex-Media Officer for ICC and the Delhi Daredevils. He is also the author of World Cup Heroes, Cricket Editorial consultant, professor and cricket TV commentator.)
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