Jasprit Bumrah adds another chapter to his greatness
6th September, 2021, the 4th Test between India and England is on a knife edge when Jasprit Bumrah marks out his run-up for the 61st over. Prior to it, Bumrah, despite looking the most threatening of the Indian bowlers, hadn’t had a wicket to show for it and had, much like his English counterparts, toiled uneventfully.
For a large chunk of the first session on Day 5, England’s batters were seemingly comfortable at the crease. Haseeb Hameed, barring a brain-fade during Dawid Malan’s run-out had shown that there weren’t any demons in the surface, meaning that if India had to break open the game, they had to purely rely on their bowlers’ skills. And, of course, the genius of Bumrah.
In the first over of his spell after Lunch, the pacer began probing outside off stump, although he hadn’t really managed to induce a false stroke. To an extent, it seemed that Virat Kohli had turned to his prized asset to get the better of Joe Root, who has been sumptuous against every other bowler but has looked a touch tentative when confronting Bumrah.
While it still wasn’t the proverbial last throw of the dice, it would’ve assumed such proportions had the English batters began thwarting the Indian bowlers post Lunch.
For a couple of overs, the latter seemed to be the case as well. Not only was Bumrah unable to scalp a wicket, he also gave away easy singles – singles that England would’ve hoped would infuse a bit of impetus into their innings.
All of a sudden, though, something clicked for Bumrah. He got a few deliveries to tail into the batter, whereas on other occasions, he got the ball to leave the batter. Once that happened, Bumrah smelt blood, just like a lion does when preys unwittingly stroll into the den.
And, then, just like it has happened on countless instances already in a brief Test career, the contest morphed into one between an irresistible force and a very movable object.
Over the years, there haven’t been many bowlers that have boasted the kind of raw ability Bumrah does. Not only can he rely on the unconventionality of his action, he also has the propensity to sense when the batter is on the edge and what kind of deliveries he least wants to face.
When tackling Ollie Pope, Bumrah did exactly that. He asked the Englishman to leave a few balls outside off stump and brought the occasional delivery back into the batter too. However, each of those were from a back of a length, meaning that Pope had time to adjust.
On the 5th ball of the 65th over though, it all unraveled rather spectacularly for England. Bumrah bowled the dreaded full-length delivery and Pope immediately found himself in all sorts of strife. Not only did the ball slant into the batter in the air, it also decked back into Pope off the surface.
Remember, this was a pitch that was unresponsive since the opening day and Bumrah had somehow, resembling a soothsaying whisperer, gotten the track to talk. Not just talk, he got it to scream impending doom for England.
An over later, Bumrah set up Jonny Bairstow just as effortlessly. Again, there were deliveries that were bowled on a back of a length and the occasional one that went away from him. However, to Bairstow’s detriment, there was also another that tailed back into him viciously and left his stumps in an almighty mess.
Thus, in a matter of a few balls, Bumrah had managed to tear the English batting unit into shreds. Though that doesn’t take a lot these days, this performance was exceptionally brilliant, for it was achieved in conditions that even the hosts’ bowlers, including the mighty James Anderson couldn’t exploit.
This particular sequence, though, which comprises of Bumrah tearing open matches and handing them on a platter to India is something that has been continuing since his Test debut. And, if one were to stretch it further, it illustrates why he is quite simply the best fast bowler on the planet.
Jasprit Bumrah became the fast Indian pacer to 100 Test wickets
By virtue of the Pope wicket, Bumrah also became the fastest Indian pacer to 100 wickets, ahead of a certain Kapil Dev. More impressively, these wickets have come in every part of the world – something that distinguishes him from the rest of the pack.
Apart from that, the fast bowler also has a tendency to stand up when the team needs him the most. The Boxing Day Test at the MCG in 2018 - when he annihilated the Australians and propelled India to a historical series-clinching victory - is a prime example of this.
A little more recently, at the Lord’s Cricket Ground against England, it was Bumrah that hammered the final nail into the English coffin when he completely flummoxed Ollie Robinson – a batter who had kept most of the Indian bowlers at bay.
Incidentally, it was a slower ball that hoodwinked Robinson, which considering the fire and intensity India displayed that afternoon, was a gentle reminder that Bumrah has several strings to his bowling bow.
Additionally, the fast bowler has developed a knack of picking up wickets in a bunch. Over the course of his career, he has dismissed 51 batters before they have notched up a double-digit score – something that tells how lethal he is against batters looking to find their feet.
Bumrah also has the rare gift of hurrying the batters off the pitch. Though science suggests that it is an unnatural phenomenon, the pacer is perhaps the closest anomaly to that theory.
Bumrah has a fairly remarkable ratio when it comes to “Bowled” and “LBW” dismissals too. As things stand, the pacer has accounted for 101 batters, with 53 of those falling prey to the aforementioned avenues. Apart from that being a glowing assessment of how tight he bowls; it also indicates that he takes the pitch out of the equation very often and challenges both edges – as was the case at The Oval.
Furthermore, Bumrah, much like his modern-day peers, has an enormous appetite and stomach for a fight, meaning that he is, irrespective of the conditions and the match situation, always in the game. In fact, during his match-winning spell against England, he was bowling non-stop because Ravindra Jadeja was taking a little more than a minute to complete his quota at the other end.
To place things into further context, his average speed in the second innings was 138.2 kmph (as opposed to 137.2 in the first innings). In blunter terms, when Bumrah smells blood, he is quite incomparable.
For those who had seen Bumrah struggle during the World Test Championship final, they might’ve felt that he has now turned his fortunes around.
Yet those who have watched the Mumbai Indians speedster closely enough would know that that performance was just a glorious aberration and the fact that it occurred on such a big stage only magnified the doubts around Bumrah.
From Bumrah’s perspective too, there was never any concern and with each passing Test on this England tour, he is ensuring that that reverberates across the globe, even on unresponsive pitches that refuse to adhere to the instructions of other mere mortals.
As for his status among the sport’s best fast bowlers, well, that seems to be on the verge of becoming a moot conversation because Bumrah is proving that he, especially when fit, is simply unplayable.
To that end, this performance at The Oval is just another chapter in his burgeoning greatness and one that could actually catapult India to a watershed series victory in England.
And, of course, a reiteration that when things seem mundane, Bumrah comes alive and more importantly, injects life into hopeless scenarios.