Is Jasprit Bumrah fully fit and ready to bowl 10 overs? | Cricket News
A few weeks ago, a long-shot video of Jasprit Bumrah bowling at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore surfaced. It triggered a viral spate of relief and celebration among the fans. From that dance, one couldn’t make out much about Bumrah’s bowling: is the action the same, is the non-bowling arm raising at all, is the pace good, but it was enough for fans to salivate in hope. Then more recently came another video, again shot from a dance with a voice even enquiring ‘is it Bumrah?’, this time bowling to KL Rahul. Once again, a flood of relief ensued. Such has been the extent of troubles in the post-Bumrah world in Indian cricket.
A cursory look back at India’s T20I series loss to the West Indies would reveal that the hosts had to just play out the spin threat of Kuldeep Yadav, and occasionally Yuzvendra Chahal, while making up against the attack’s weak link – the pace bowling component.
Arshdeep Singh and Mukesh Kumar didn’t let anyone down with their efforts, but nobody was expecting them to run through even a fragile batting line-up like the West Indies.
In the series decider on Sunday, Nicholas Pooran and Brandon King just had to ensure Kuldeep remained wicketless – the chinaman bowler finished with figures of 0/18 from his four overs – but the home team still got home comfortably, overhauling a total of 165 with two overs to spare for the loss of only two wickets. Mukesh and Arshdeep bowled a grand total of three overs between them, conceding 30 runs and taking a solitary wicket. For much of the T20I series, skipper Hardik Pandya looked India’s most potent wicket-taking prospect, but even he wouldn’t consider himself to be the leader of the pace attack.
It’s here that the impending comebacks of Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna during the upcoming T20I series against Ireland assume significance. The result of the three games is almost a foregone conclusion, and would be anyway considered as little more than a footnote in the larger scheme of things. With the 50-over World Cup little more than seven weeks away, it’s how Prasidh and Bumrah, especially the latter, react to the workload which will interest fans much more.
With Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj being wrapped in cotton wool ahead of the big event and Bumrah and Prasidh sidelined due to injury, the bench strength of India’s pace bowling, which was the envy of the cricketing world not too long ago, was suddenly exposed. The likes of Avesh Khan and Shivam Mavi are still lacking in experience, while the selectors don’t seem to trust Umesh Yadav with the white ball. As far as Jaydev Unadkat is concerned, he has the advantage of the left-armer’s angle and ample experience, but is not likely to give sleepless nights to quality batsmen.
With the World Cup being played in India, spinners are expected to enjoy favourable conditions, but a bowler of Bumrah’s quality doesn’t need the surface or overheads to ass him for making an impact. Moreover, India has often been found wanting on spin-friendly surfaces of late (on the recent tour of the Caribbean, and the ODI series decider against Australia in Chennai earlier this year, to cite two instances), making it imperative that the pace bowling side of things is working smoothly.
A fully-fit Bumrah is good enough
Bumrah’s pace, unique bowling action, nous and guile provide the Indian attack a definite edge, provided he has fully recovered from his back injury and is fit and firing at his best. A bowling line-up featuring Bumrah, Shami, Siraj, Kuldeep and Ravindra Jadeja will prompt Indian fans to dream of great things in October-November.
Ireland 🇮🇪, here we come ✈️ #TeamIndia | #IREvIND pic.twitter.com/A4P66WZJzP
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 15, 2023
But Indian selectors have previously erred in getting Bumrah back too soon after injury. In the rush ahead of last year’s T20 World Cup in Australia, the pace spearhead was rendered unavailable for close to a year. That’s why the wise men are first assessing whether he can bowl four overs a match without any problems before potentially putting him through 10 in the Asia Cup and the home ODI series against Australia just before the World Cup.
Even Prasidh is highly thought of the selectors and Indian team management for his ability to generate bounce from a length and even if unable to get into a first-choice XI, he will be a worthwhile back-up option if he returns to the level where he was before his injury.
With India’s middle order still not certain with not much time left for the big event – the fitness status of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer is shrouded in mystery – it may come down to the Indian bowling to keep their campaign afloat. A fit-again Bumrah will be relied upon to make early breakthroughs, get wickets in the middle overs, and also keep scoring in check at the death. His partnership with Shami was a treat for the cricket connoisseur and may hold the key, alongside the Jadeja-Kuldeep partnership, to how far the hosts can progress.
Shami generally relies on his Test-match skills, not bothering too much about variety and change of pace even in T20 cricket, while there seems to be no limit to what Bumrah can do with the ball. Yorkers, slower balls, bouncers and cutters all come easily to him.
Most of the other squads are taking a final shape for the World Cup while the hosts still seem in the assessment stage. But one thing is for sure: they will give Bumrah as much time as they possibly can before taking a final decision. He is that vital to their prospects.
Bumrah at his best automatically puts batsmen on the defensive which, in this day and age of ODI scores getting higher and higher, is half the battle won. Getting wickets is the best way to curb the run rate, and Bumrah is better than most in that regard.
