The rise of Jasprit Bumrah is an encouraging sign for Indian cricket

Jasprit Bumrah wouldn’t have made his India debut if Mohammed Shami was fit for the Australia series and not even if Bhuvneshwar Kumar who was Shami’s replacement hadn’t suffered an injury during the series. The 22-year-old Gujarat pacer made the best use of the opportunity that came his way and now is an integral part of the Indian set-up for the World T20.

Bumrah has made a name for himself with his unorthodox action and ability to bowl yorkers. Skipper MS Dhoni called him the find of the Australia series and the fast bowler has done consistently well to justify the faith shown in him by the Indian selectors and the team management.

Bumrah got his break when John Wright, the former Mumbai Indians’ head coach, took it upon himself to go and watch a Syed Mushtaq Ali Tournament match involving Gujarat. There he noticed a spark in the youngster which excited him. Thus Bumrah, the then 19-year-old kid with no first-class cricket experience whatsoever, was recruited by Mumbai Indians in 2013.

Once there, at that extremely impressionable age, he got to train with one of the greatest unorthodox fast bowlers of our time, Lasith Malinga. He learned the art of bowling yorkers from the Sri Lankan pacer and also a thing or two about temperament, bowling to strengths and planning and plotting dismissals. Malinga also advised him to focus on his strengths and emphasised that being unorthodox was actually cool.

Bumrah is not the everyday type of fast bowler. The youngster has a rare ‘hyper-extension’ shoulder (as different from a hyperextension injury of the rotator cuff), much like former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar. Coupled to this is an unorthodox whippy delivery style where his inward tilted high-arm action (as opposed to Malinga’s round-arm action) with its rapid bowling-arm speed makes the ball seem to be disconcertingly delivered from wide of the crease.

The tall, right-arm fast bowler played just two IPL matches in 2013 as it was only a couple of weeks since he was spotted by Wright. This included his debut match against RCB where his haul of three wickets included the prized scalp of Virat Kohli. In an interview after the match, he had said that he did not really know his own Mumbai Indians players at that stage and was pretty much overawed by the situation.

After that IPL foray, Bumrah was inducted into Gujarat’s Ranji Trophy team a few months down the line. By the time the next IPL came along, he had already featured in a fair number of first-class matches and was, therefore, a much improved and experienced bowler. That year, he played 11 matches in the IPL and went places, including an India A tour to Australia.

Unfortunately, a knee injury on his landing foot kept him out of the game for close to five months before he recovered sufficiently in time to feature in four IPL matches for Mumbai Indians during the 2015 season. The time out of the game got him to think about its various aspects and when he came back stronger, thanks to the work put in with trainers, he was actually a better bowler.

The turning point for Bumrah was the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015. Bowling at high speeds the uncanny pacer rattled many batsmen. He finished the final as the highest wicket taker with 21 wickets at 16.09 from 9 matches and was on the radar of the national selectors. His best of 5/28 came against Delhi in the final when he blew away the middle and lower order batsmen.

He used his sharp bouncer to great effect and played a key role in his team winning the silverware. In the next domestic competition, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Bumrah continued his form and picked up 14 wickets from just 9 matches. His ODI debut and the T20I performances thereafter have been exceptional as he continues to impress with every match. India will hope that Bumrah stays fit and serves the country for a long time to come.