“Jasprit Bumrah is a generational, once-in-a-lifetime talent. Credit must go to him,” smiled Sanju Samson while receiving the man-of-the-match award after India’s nervy seven-run win against England in the T20 World Cup semi-final.
Despite scoring a mammoth score of 253 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India were pushed to the brink in the final overs a fearless chase by 22-year-old Jacob Bethell. If not for Bumrah’s deadly coupsIndia could very well have lost the game.
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IND vs ENG T20 WORLD CUP 2026: MAIN | SCORECARD
Bumrah conceded just 14 runs from his last two overs, while the others were bowled out for nearly 16 runs. Samson acknowledged the distinction after India sealed their place in the final against New Zealand. Bumrah’s death by brilliance made the difference between India and England. (Photo: PTI)
What Bumrah achieved on Thursday, March 5, was close to wizardry. Bowling against a rampaging Bethell, who smashed 105 off 48 balls, the fast bowler used his entire repertoire to strangle the innings even as the batsman made very few mistakes.
BUMRAH SAVES INDIA AGAIN
He may not have been the man of the match or the best player of the tournament, but Bumrah repeatedly saved India in crunch moments.
And every time Bumrah pulls a rabbit out of the hat, one can only thank the coach who first discovered him. A man who chose not to impose himself and change Bumrah’s unorthodox act. Bumrah’s four over felt like a lifeline for India. (Photo: PTI)
The one who allowed the unconventional kid to shine among the traditionalists who might have tried to correct him for being different.
Today, this coach deserves his share of credit. The man who might have told a young fast bowler, “Ignore what other people say. You’re playing well. You’re going to be a star one day.”
This is the story of that coach, Kishore Trivedi, the man who first discovered Jasprit Bumrah in Ahmedabad.
FOLLOW BUMRAH’S TRACKS
On the outskirts of Ahmedabad, next to SPIPA Corporate Road, lies a humble cricket ground. It is here that 79-year-old Kishore Trivedi still runs his Royal Cricket Academy.
Trivedi, remarkably fit for his age, specializes in fast bowling and has produced two notable pacers: his son Siddharth Trivedi, who played in the IPL for Rajasthan Royals, and the much more famous Jasprit Bumrah.
Watching Bumrah’s match against England on Thursday would certainly put a smile on Trivedi’s face. Meet Kishore Trivedi, the man behind Jasprit Bumrah’s swagger.
Bumrah was called upon whenever India needed a check and he delivered again. Captain Suryakumar Yadav used him in the 5th, 11th, 16th and 18th overs. In a match that produced a staggering 509 runs in both innings, Bumrah conceded runs at just over eight in an over.
At the Wankhede, Bumrah made an immediate impact, dismissing England captain Harry Brooke with the first ball he bowled.
He then operated with surgical precision, keeping England’s big hitters under pressure even when the other bowlers were dismantled.
“If Bumrah hadn’t bowled the way he did at the death, I probably wouldn’t be standing here. Credit to the bowlers for backing themselves and playing in such tough conditions,” Samson said while receiving the award.
BUMRAH MEETS KISHORE TRIVEDI
But where did this skill come from? How did Bumrah become the defining fast bowler of his generation?
“It must have been drilled into him,” said Bumrah’s childhood coach Kishore Trivedi.
The coach first met Bumrah when he was a 16-year-old student at Ahmedabad’s Nirmal High School, about a 15-minute drive from the academy.
Bumrah was extremely fast even at this age and could reach a speed of 140 kilometers per hour. His unusual behavior, something few had seen before, never concerned Trivedi. After watching him closely in the nets for a week, the coach concluded that the action was perfectly legal and realized that the hyperextension in his arm allowed him to release the ball from an odd angle, nearly a foot in front of his head.
In fact, he realized that Bumrah’s hyperextension gave him the ability to release the ball from an odd angle, almost a foot in front of where most bowlers release it. Jasprit Bumrah (middle row far left), Krishan Trivedi (middle row far right)
Boys in Bumrah’s age group weren’t exactly big fans of facing him in the net. He was quick, his action didn’t look like the textbook version most youngsters were taught, and the ball seemed to arrive from somewhere behind his shoulder before they could properly pick him.
“He studied at Nirmal High School. One day when he was 16 years old, he came to me and applied for the academy. At that time he mainly played school cricket and did not take it very seriously. I watched him for a few days and then I told him that if he wants to take cricket seriously, he has to come regularly and devote proper time to the sport and for the next three days you cannot devote to the sport.
“I told him he has talent and he can play at the highest level if he wants to,” he added.
As it turns out, Bumrah has done a lot more than just reach the top level. On Thursday night in Mumbai, England captain Harry Brook went so far as to call him arguably the greatest bowler of all time.
“He (Bumrah) is a very good bowler, probably the best of all time at the moment. He’s been a great bowler for a long time. Hats off to them,” Brook said at the post-match press conference.
“He’s a very good pitcher, probably the best of all time at this point. He’s been a great pitcher for a long time. Hats off to them,” Brook said after the game.
IND vs ENG: BUMRAH’S TACTICAL CHAMPIONS
Apart from the hyperextension and that famous awkward action, what really makes Bumrah stand out is how he reads the game.
Otherwise, how would he have known that Harry Brook, who had been doing everything in the middle until then, might want to take him on the first ball? Instead of pace, Bumrah slid into the cutter. A wicked flick of his wrist caused the ball to dive sharply into Brook on the first delivery of the fifth over.
Brook went through the shot too early. The ball soared high into the Bombay sky.
Then came Axar Patel. He ran back with his eyes on the ball, timed it perfectly, stretched and completed a great catch. The kind that instantly reminds you of Travis Head grabbing Rohit Sharma in the 2023 World Cup final.
But Bumrah’s ability to read the batter, to stay one step ahead of the shot, did not come naturally. It had to be built.
“His action was his biggest weapon. He needed to learn variation and needed to work on his fundamentals – short balls, yorkers, cutters etc,” Trivedi said.
After Brook returned, another problem faced Bumrah. Jacob Bethell.
The twenty-two-year-old did not keep himself waiting long. The second ball he faced, he smashed Bumrah for a six. Bumrah’s accuracy was key against Jacob Bethell. (PTI photo)
Bumrah paused, took stock and quickly realized that following the left-hander with pure pace as he shuffled around wasn’t going to work.
So he changed his plan.
Instead of pace, Bumrah started mixing up his cutters, mixing them at different lengths and angles. Bethell suddenly had an inkling of what was to come.
After that six, Bethell faced another 11 balls from Bumrah. Only one of them went over the border.
Consider that for a moment. Bethell faced 48 balls in the innings and scored 105 runs. Of those 48 deliveries, only 13 came from Bumrah and he managed only 17 runs from them.
He smashed 88 of the next 35 balls he faced.
Such control does not appear overnight. It was built because of the absolute grind Kishore Trivedi put Bumrah through in those early years.
A mischievous (naughty) Punjabi boy, the child of the Vice Principal (Primary Section) of Nirmal High School, was not disciplined at all. His grades were poor and it was clear that he was not going to become a world-changing engineer or doctor – the dream of every middle-class family in India.
Trivedi himself knew it well. He was the son of an accountant who moved to Ahmedabad when he was very young. In the 1960s, this off-spinner struggled in Ahmedabad. His career only stabilized when he found a job in a bank through a sports quota, which helped him earn steady money to train.
The coach was not going to let that happen to Bumrah. Trivedi asked Bumrah’s mother Daljit to hand over the responsibility of the child to him for three years so that he could turn him into a world-beater. Daljit yes.
“He was quite a naughty boy. He came to practice one day, missed the next three days and went to relax with his friends. The next day he came, I left him behind the net all day. It happened on a couple of occasions and then he got in the queue. He realized he couldn’t do it,” Trivedi said.
But he was kind to Bumrah too.
When the other kids taunted Bumrah and called him “chucker”, Trivedi immediately shut them down. He refused to intervene in the event. Instead, he gave the young fast bowler confidence and worked with these unique release points, which helped him understand how to land his best balls time and time again.
SKILLS MASTERY
Under Trivedi’s coaching, Bumrah played Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Gujarat. Fortunately, John Wright, the former Indian head coach who worked as a scout for the Mumbai Indians, was sitting in one of those games. The rest is said to be history.
The IPL is over. From there came the Indian team and the fast bowler has been simply unstoppable ever since.
“When he played his first local tournament from the academy, he was just bowling bouncers. The batsmen were hitting him over the leg. I had to tell him that you have to use your brain and work on how you bowl the balls. That’s the advice I gave him,” Trivedi said.
That package was seen in the last two overs of the match on Thursday. Noticing that Arshdeep got a hint of reverse swing in his final over, Bumrah jumped at the chance to display his complete repertoire. He turned the ball over and cut different lengths, confusing the dough in the crease.
Apart from one full toss that Curran hit for four, none of his last 12 balls touched the boundary. Including four, the 16th gave 8 runs and the 18th gave 6.
It’s ridiculous considering the finish between the 16th and 18th was a massive 16 runs. By the time the 18th match came around, the batsmen at the wicket were playing off the reputation of the bowlers, not the balls.
That’s the difference in the level at which Bumrah operated on Thursday.
“I would tell him to bowl 10 balls at one spot. In the first few days, he hardly hit one. But from the second week he started realizing what works on which balls and started improving. The best thing about Bumrah was that he could listen, understand and implement it the next day,” the veteran coach smiled.
KISHORE TRIVEDI’S LEGACY
Today, Bumrah has a special place on the banner of the Kishore Trivedi coaching academy.
“Jasprit Bumrah’s name needs no introduction,” it reads.
For Trivedi, Bumrah remains the greatest example of what can emerge from that humble plot near SPIPA Corporate Road, where the fast bowler first learned the craft that would eventually make him the best in the world.
For him, Bumrah remains the academy’s greatest achievement.
Even at 79, Trivedi visits the grounds every day and coaches young fast bowlers who dream of following Bumrah’s path.
“Imagine that the best bowler in the world was born from such a small training center. That makes me happy,” he says. Trividei at his academy, perhaps paving the way for the next Bumrah.
Then comes a short break.
“I wish he would visit him sometime. I know he has a busy life. But I hope he comes back once in a while.”
And maybe one day he will.
Maybe after another Bumrah spell.
Maybe after the T20 World Cup final.
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– The end
Issued by:
Debodinna Chakraborty
Published on:
06 Mar 2026 10:24 IST
