“When Jasprit Bumrah first started playing cricket, he only wanted to bowl short balls that hit the batsman’s head. He had to be told that he had to learn variations. He needed to mix cutters, yorkers to set the bats,” the Indian fast bowler’s childhood coach fondly tells India Today in Ahmedabad.
Introduced to the professional sport relatively late in his life (at the age of 16), Bumrah needed to learn the trade quickly if he was to survive the cutthroat cricket landscape in India. As a lanky, average 16-year-old, Bumrah had his unique action and blistering pace that troubled batsmen. In Ahmedabad, for that matter in India and the world, no one had ever seen such an event before. Kids of the same age group in the nets were scared to face Bumrah. They were whispering to each other, calling him chucker, afraid that if Coach Trivedi found out, he would shut them up.
“Action was his biggest weapon. He needed to learn variation and he needed to work on his fundamentals. I’ve never seen that kind of action and when I saw the academy kids struggle, I knew this kid was going to be special,” Trivedi recalled. Jasprit Bumrah (left middle row) was a fast learner. (Image: Kingshuk Kusari)
Bumrah was a receptive child. He listened, learned and implemented. Those early lessons and that knack for picking things up have done wonders for Jasprit Bumrah in his cricketing career. Undoubtedly one of the greatest fast bowlers of his generation, Bumrah has utilized his mastery to great effect in the ongoing T20 World Cup as well.
While the wicket column does not have Bumrah anywhere near the top 10 bowlers of this tournament, anyone who watches the games will confirm that Jasprit Bumrah may be bowling some of his best balls in this edition of the competition.
Bumrah would have been a contender to bowl one of the best spells in this tournament but for India’s loss against South Africa in Ahmedabad. He punched through Quinton de Kock’s stumps and then bowled Ryan Rickelton in the over. He was then charged with bowling at the death, where he dismissed Corbin Bosch with a sharp chance caught-and-bowled in the penultimate innings.
While South Africa has been involved in three of the nine wickets he has taken in this World Cup, the fast bowler has not been as effective in terms of consistently picking up wickets in the tournament.
Many former cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar and Dinesh Karthik urged the Indian team to give Bumrah a good run in the powerplay.. As of March 3, the fastball had thrown just eight power-hitters in six games in that contest. This happened because the Indian team used Jasprit Bumrah almost as a floater. Traditionally a role associated with the batting unit, a floater is someone who is called upon by the game situation. The bowler has to either save the team from a crisis or wait patiently on the bench while others cheer against the bowling attacks.
In Bumrah’s case, he was called upon to bowl the toughest overs in the match against the best batsmen from the opposition team.
Take India’s Super 8 match against West Indies for example. Bumrah bowled just one (the fifth) in the over and was then held back to face the dangerous Windies middle order. He bowled overs 12, 18 and 20 and tore through the Windies line-up by picking up the crucial wickets of Shimron Hetmyer and Roston Chase.
Against South Africa, as explained, Bumrah bowled two tough overs in the over and then two more tough overs at the death.
JASPRITA BUMRAH’S BOWLING DISTRIBUTION AT T20 WORLD CUP
- vs. NAM: 7, 12, 14, 17 | (1/20)
- vs THEN: 2, 4 | (2/17)
- vs SUN: 2, 4, 16 | (1/17)
- vs SA: 2, 4, 17, 19 | (3/15)
- vs ZIM: 5, 8, 13 | (0/21)
- vs WI: 5, 12, 18, 20 | (2/36)
DIVISION ACCORDING TO ANCESTORS
- 0–6: 8 overs
- 7–14: 5 overtime
- 15–20: 6 overs
India head coach Gautam Gambhir was asked about this peculiar distribution of Bumrah’s overs after the match against West Indies. Why didn’t the fast bowler get a more traditional bowling rhythm? Gambhir explained that India are using the best bowlers in the world against the best batsmen in the world in the hope of neutralizing the threat and creating pressure in the later stages of the game.
“I think it’s more to do with the opposition, where their firepower lies. In particular, we knew West Indies had a lot of firepower in the middle, with Hetmyer, Rovman and Sherfane. And we know these guys are quality players; these guys can take the game away from us. So we always knew we needed someone like Bumrah to come at them,” Gautam Gambhir said.
Gambhir added that Bumrah was also called upon to bowl in the middle stages when India ran out of runs. Basically, wherever the crunch comes, Bumrah follows.
“Every time we have a big over we can go back to Bumrah and try to control the game. Because in T20 you also don’t want two big overs back to back. That can take the game away. So for me I think Bumrah is a banker and we will continue to use him in different ways.” Jasprit Bumrah’s action plays a big role in his success. (Image: Reuters)
JASPRIT BUMRAH: TOUCHED BY GOD
In the past, in an extremely strong Australian team, legendary fast bowlers like Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee bowled their set spells and then waited for the tail to come. With the tail team down by six wickets, the duo warmed up, took to bowling and wiped out the tail within minutes.
Now it’s not to take anything from them. They are two of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. But the example is a reminder of how the goal column can be manipulated, tilting it towards a player who values the number of goals he takes.
However, Bumrah, ever the honest team man, does not delve into these things. He doesn’t have the luxury of that. He does what is asked of him.
He trains, fixes his problems, performs the role he has and goes to sleep.
The wicket column does not properly tell the story of the terror that Bumrah has been able to inflict on opposition teams.
In this World Cup, he is bowling at an economy of 6.30, with a strike rate of 13.33 – ridiculous by T20 standards. It closely emulates his heroics from the 2023 ODI World Cup, where he had the best economy of the tournament at 4.06, but was not the highest wicket-taker.
But none of that matters. Bumrah wants to win. He always wanted to win matches for India. His childhood coach Kishore Trivedi believes that Bumrah’s right arm is being touched by God.
“His act is a gift from God. His right arm and his body are touched by God. Imagine that the best bowler in the world has emerged from such a small training center – it makes me happy,” he says.
Trivedi believes there are better legacies than a goal post. Once called a chucker on the streets of Ahmedabad, today kids from the city and around the world try to emulate Bumrah’s action in the nets.
“I am very happy. Very satisfied. And I hope more fast bowlers come out of my academy. There are three or four 12-year-olds who have Bumrah’s action. I have not tried to change them,” says Trivedi.
Can there be a greater compliment, a greater reference?
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– The end
Issued by:
Amar Panicker
Published on:
04 March 2026 04:00 IST
