With figures of 4-39, Jasprit Bumrah was one of the standout players in India’s handy beating of Afghanistan. As a performance, it was highly typical of the man who is quite probably the greatest fast bowler in the world right now. What I mean by this is the fact that Bumrah shines in all phases of the game.
For many bowlers, there is a fairly specific time in a game of white ball cricket that they best suit the conditions. For someone like England’s Chris Woakes this comes at the start of an innings. Looking to make the most of the swing, he relies on the new ball for early assistance.
Bowlers like this find that they may start to leak runs and lack wickets as the game goes on. What sets Bumrah apart is his ability to freeze batters for his entire ten over allocation.
Over the twelve games he has played since the start of 2022, Bumrah’s overall record stands at 27 wickets taken at an average of 17.6 with an economy of 4.54. Impressive in its own right, it only gets better when we look at how well it holds up over all three bowling phases of the game.
In the powerplay his economy drops to 3.92. In a period of the game where batters are often looking to get off to a good start you see Bumrah’s ability to put the brakes on.
The effect that Jasprit Bumrah has at the start of the innings is best described as an injection of fear. Teams are well aware of his ability and through a mixture of looking to see him off and genuinely being unable to score off him, you end up with such a low economy.
Where fear factor describes the start of an innings, the effect in the middle and death is more like that of a constrictor. In the middle overs the economy goes to 4.94, and ends with 5.43 at the death. In no phase does Bumrah go to a run a ball.
What we often see here is Bumrah used to choke a team looking to accelerate or finish strong. A strong example of this came in India’s game against England at the Cricket World Cup. Although India would go on to lose, Bumrah bowled fantastically to slow down England’s charge.
Given this, it would be a tactical misstep to wait too long when it comes to attacking India’s bowling. By waiting until the death you are in essence backing yourself to defy the skill of a man that quite simply very few players have a good day against.
Instead, the push needs to come earlier against the other bowlers. What you may get here is that India then do deploy Bumrah earlier, opening up a bit more opportunity to attack at the death.
In trying to explain just how Bumrah is so effective you could write a thousand articles, it is best summed up as the fact he can bowl several types of delivery and bowl all of them accurately.
If given the new ball he can bowl fast and challenge the corridor of uncertainty around the top of off and outside edge. Bring him in later and he can take pace off before shattering the stumps with a yorker that just starts to trail in. What the situation requires Bumrah provides.
If India go on to win this World Cup, expect plenty of it to be down to the work of Jasprit Bumrah.
