ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: Jasprit Bumrah, India’s Yorker King

Jasprit Bumrah has spent most of his international career proving critics wrong. Cricketing legend Michael Holding was quite vocal on Bumrah’s possible career as Test cricketer even before he made his debut in South Africa in 2018.

“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,” said Holding. 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 surprised everyone in South Africa during the Tests. In England, his absence was felt when his start was delayed by an injury.

Former Indian skipper Kapil Dev too was not convinced about Bumrah. His unconventional action and approach to bowling did not sit well with the 83’s winning captain Kapil.

He proved Kapil wrong too, when he bowled India to a famous first-ever Test series win in Australia in 2018-19.

“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,” Said Kapil Dev to Times of India.

Former skipper Krish Srikkanth believes the leader of the Indian bowling attack, Jasprit Bumrah, will be their key player in the World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in Manchester.

"Looking ahead to the semi-final, Bumrah is going to be a key man for Virat Kohli. India are lucky to have someone with the ability to take wickets with the new ball, come back later and break a partnership if needed, and then to restrict at the death," Srikanth wrote in his column for ICC.

"From a bowling perspective, it was all about Jasprit Bumrah again. He really is the leader of the Indian attack.

"He is the main weapon, he takes wickets, he can put on the brakes when the opposition are getting on top, he can do everything. We saw it against England when they were cutting loose, and against Sri Lanka again, when they were trying to attack," said Srikanth.

"The opposition know that you either get him out before he gets to 10, or the next pit stop is probably 100. In the last three years of his career he has been outstandingly consistent in one-day cricket," he said.

"I think the most important thing about him is his temperament. He is so cool and calm and just never gets flustered. So many players start to panic if they don't get runs during the Powerplay, but Rohit doesn't. Even when he starts slowly, he is dangerous," he said.

"He has this ability to just shift through the gears, from second to fourth to sixth to eighth. By the time he gets to 120, he is in eighth gear. He has a fantastic striking ability and we saw that against Sri Lanka.

"But it is also important to remember that he does more than just strike the ball cleanly. Rohit can score this many centuries because he has rock solid defence. You cannot score that many hundreds without a great defence, and Rohit has it," added Srikanth

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.

Unlike fast bowlers who like to snarl and make gestures or make bold statements, Bumrah is the typical genial Indian quick bowler. In his time, Javagal Srinath through the 1990s was criticised for being too nice. Bumrah, it is considered an asset, because he does it with a smile!

Since Javagal Srinath’s time, India 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. He has managed to hit the peak, especially in ODIs, much before all three.

Javagal 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.

Bumrah 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.

Jasprit Bumrah’s consistency to bowl Yorkers at will in the limited-overs format, especially at the death, makes him a go-to bowler.

Bumrah’s consistency to bowl Yorkers at will in the limited-overs format, especially in death over, makes him the go-to seamer for skipper Kohli.