Notes From the World Cup: Jasprit Bumrah, Locked and Loaded

Yeah, he's back.

If you’re watching a cricket match to feel things, then few sights are more conducive than a fast bowler. You know the kind I am talking about. Tall, lithe, steaming in from fifty yards with a face that exudes venom. Sending projectiles at speeds that are meant to dismantle more than deceive. Sometimes it is the three-piece set of timbrewood behind a batter, other times it is the batter’s confidence. Their kind makes people sweat through their hamstrings and ears even under grey English skies.

Fast bowlers are creatures of speed and electricity. And often, the pitch is their only friend. The good ones can, sometimes, make a lifeless pitch look menacing — think Dale Steyn at Nagpur — but even the best of them need a little help on most days. Dead pitches can suck all the energy out of a quick ball, giving batters ample time to get in position.

In the long term, species are defined by their ecosystem. Asian pitches were once famous as fast bowling purgatories. Spinners, aided by their abrasive nature, thrived.

Unless you were Pakistani, in which case, you were plucking out express speedsters from a kind of tree that only grew within their borders. For a long time, it was difficult to find jealousy like what an Indian fan harboured. Under similar playing conditions, while we could have about two medium-fast seamers on a good day, an average Pakistan team could field about five bowlers who sent that red pill at more than 85 miles an hour. The news bulletin often ended at Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, but the absurdity started from the line beyond them. Aaqib Javed, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammed Zahid, Mohammed Sami, Asif. I can go on but my head is hurting from the trauma these lot have caused. Their current setup has Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah, both of whom, health permitting, should end with more than 300 Test wickets.

Which is why, it is a bit unnerving to watch Jasprit Bumrah. His predecessors, Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath, have serious cachet within cricket fans, but realisation has dawned that Bumrah is cut from a different cloth. Indian fans from a certain generation, maybe ever, are just not used to this.

His action, unique and asymmetrical, is often spoken about as the key to his success. His control over a ludicrous range of skills says otherwise.

Most great bowlers have a finite set of skills they are exceptional at. Glen McGrath, James Anderson, and Shaun Pollock could land a ball on a six-pence and make it talk; Waqar Younis could telegraph his intentions of hitting your stumps and leave you unable to change much about it; Allan Donald and Curtly Ambrose could make you smell leather and discomfort. One-trick ponies don’t get 400 Test wickets, so of course they had other skills too, but you kind of knew what you were getting. Just that it was too good most of the time.

What sets Jasprit Bumrah apart, and what places him — pardon me for my sins, St. Andy Roberts — in the same bracket as Wasim Akram, is his mastery over all of those things. Bumrah is not just good, he is peerless at most things a bowler can be possibly asked to do.

In one ODI game, lasting fifty overs, enough for about three to four spells, Bumrah displays all his colours. Early in the innings, he is fast and full, making the new ball move in the air, drawing batters into awkward shapes. If there is bounce in the pitch, he uses it as a special effect, leaving batters as good as Hashim Amla stranded on their toes. Once the ball loses a bit of shine, goes soft, and stops moving, Bumrah hones in on a spot on the pitch and dishes out 12-18 deliveries with unerring accuracy. Batters are often keen to score at a high rate in this phase of the game, and Bumrah makes them play shots that just, don’t, work. In the final phase of an inning, the slog overs, where batters unleash vengeance and bowlers tend to be happy if they don’t get walloped, Jasprit Bumrah is the best in the world, one of the best ever. His yorker is touched by the gods and Waqar Younis, and the deceptive quality of his slower ball would make Shane Warne proud.

It is tempting to suggest that the best place for Jasprit Bumrah would be a spicy Durban or Melbourne pitch. Bowlers like him become nearly unplayable in these conditions. It’s only fair. You get to see a glorious bird in full flight, weaving shapes as it glides in the sky, leaving everyone wanting for more. On the other hand, an ODI game against Afghanistan on a flat Delhi pitch sounds like a concrete jungle on a dusty, rainy day, where nature itself is a reluctant participant. For Bumrah’s kind, there is no such thing as a placid surface. Terraces become open fields. If you look carefully, you can see every colour on a feather. It isn’t their favourite spot, but this is where they get to strut around with their wings out. Ask a Pakistan fan about Wasim and Waqar on the dead pitches of Karachi and Sharjah and you’ll notice tears.

Jasprit Bumrah isn’t quite the bowler who will make batters fear for their lives. On the contrary, I wonder if they’re ever thrown off by the constant smile on his face. Most fast bowlers exude menace as they run in; Bumrah oozes joy. But he is the kind of bowler who probably makes batters question their life choices. Why have they chosen a profession that leaves them looking like a bent thermocol cylinder in the middle of a pitch, as fifty high-definition cameras broadcast this sight to millions of viewers across the world?

For a few months before the World Cup, there was legitimate fear, including within me, that Bumrah wouldn’t be fit enough for the first few matches. Back injuries and fast bowlers are sworn enemies, and Bumrah has had to deal with a stalker. In Ireland, as he took his first steps back into international cricket, he looked a little gingerly, as if he was finding his groove. The sound check, so to speak. But within a month, by the time the Asia Cup was done, all doubts had vanished. He was tuned and ready.

He’s ready. Photo credits: IANS

Last night’s game against Afghanistan will and should be remembered for Rohit Sharma’s batting. That said, even Sharma will be happiest with what his premier fast bowler was able to extract from a barren pitch. Jasprit Bumrah is back. And he is making India look as lethal as himself.