'Can he sustain that for a period of 10 or 12 years?' Kapil Dev expresses concerns over Jasprit Bumrah's longevity

Jasprit Bumrah has established himself as arguably the finest fast bowler of this generation. By the time he finishes his career, he could be hailed as the greatest Indian pacer to have ever played international cricket.

Legendary former seam-bowling all-rounder Kapil Dev explained what makes Bumrah so difficult to pick for opposition batters. According to the former India skipper, Bumrah's ability to bowl quickly with a short run-up catches the batters off-guard. However, Dev also wondered whether the Gujarat seamer would be able to sustain for too long with his unique run-up and action.

"There are two things that always come out. Any bowler in the world with an awkward action takes that much difficult time for a batter to pick the ball like Malinga. Those types of bowlers we don't practice in the nets, and suddenly out of the blue, somebody comes with a different action, a difficult action, that fraction of a second, if you can't pick what he's trying to do, that is good enough for a bowler," Dev said on The Squirrels YouTube channel.

"So, Bumrah has become very good because nobody could imagine from a batsman's point of view that in such a short run up, he can generate such big pace. His action is not like an athlete's action; that's why Bumrah can be devastating for the opposition. But can he sustain that for a period of 10 or 12 years, which, as a cricketer, we feel is difficult," he added.

Bumrah has had his struggles with injuries. He recently sustained a stress fracture to his back during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar series Trophy. The 31-year-old had to miss the Champions Trophy and the initial games for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. During the recently-concluded England tour, Bumrah only played three out of the five Test matches.

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According to reports, Bumrah could feature in the upcoming Asia Cup in September and might be rested for the home Test series against the West Indies in October.