Last Updated on 2 months by Charbel Coorey

What makes Jasprit Bumrah so special? A look at the pace bowling phenomenon that is Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah has it on a string. In Antigua, the first Test of India’s 2019 tour of West Indies, India’s premier bowler had the inswinger on point to the left handers. Just days later in Jamaica, he had the ball going the other way, with minimal change in action or body position.

Like Antigua, he’s too good for the West Indies batsmen. Poor John Campbell and Darren Bravo are caught behind the wicket having not done too much wrong. After Bravo is dismissed, it is pure chaos. The ball cannons into both Shamarh Brooks and Roston Chase’s front pads. Most, including Bumrah, thought the hat-trick ball to Chase was heading down the legside. However, Virat Kohli decided to review with great effect, with Bumrah becoming the third Indian to take a Test hat-trick. In just his 12th Test.

This West Indies side will certainly not be the last team to fall victim to this man. A man who is still just 25 years of age. It can be easy to forget that Bumrah only entered the Test scene in January 2018, after bursting onto the scene as an excellent white-ball bowler in 2016. Since then, he has added such a dimension to India’s side that they have become a real threat on the road. India’s tour of West Indies has not made for competitive cricket, but can you blame the Windies with Bumrah in this sort of form?

So, what makes this guy so special? I will do my best to explain what makes this bowling phenomenon – part of a number of excellent fast bowlers going around in Test cricket – so brilliant.

What makes Jasprit Bumrah so special?

His incredible adaptability to the situation and conditions

Whatever the format, whatever the situation, Jasprit Bumrah always seems to come through with flying colours. Whether it is the nervy death overs of an IPL Final, India’s very tight World Cup win over Afghanistan or a Test match bowling spell, Bumrah has the tactical nous and skill to execute his plans according to what his team and the conditions require. If his team need yorkers, he can nail six in a row. Are hard lengths are the need of the hour on a slow pitch? He can deliver. If India need to tie batsmen down, Bumrah can provide relentless over after over on end. Any tight run chase or period of play requires an in-depth understanding of how many overs Bumrah has left, and how batsmen will go about trying to play him. What an asset for India to have.

Also read: Jasprit Bumrah is the world’s best bowler across formats

His pace surprised batsmen when he burst onto the scene. After all, his run-up and action are so unorthodox that no coach could have ever thought of instilling this technique into youngsters. But, it takes more than just pace to survive across formats. Bumrah has perfected things in such a short amount of time that he holds the mantle of India’s best ever fast bowler. It can be considered a big call as the likes of Kapil Dev, Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath were excellent bowlers for India, but Bumrah has had an impact that is unimaginable. In away Tests, where India have so often struggled, Bumrah has five-wicket hauls in South Africa, England, Australia and West Indies. This is in combination with 103 wickets in 58 ODIs at less than 4.50 an over and 51 wickets in 43 T20Is at less than seven an over.

Indeed, when he finally plays a Test in India, you can be sure he will bowl perfectly to the conditions, again.

Also read: Check out Bumrah’s excellent adaptability and flexibility in IPL 2019

Incredible thinker, to go with his skill and control

A sign of a great bowler is when they can get you out regularly without you having done much wrong. This applies to this West Indies side, of which their 2-1 win over England earlier in 2019 seems a distant memory. They have tried to play Bumrah late, but the late swing at pace leaves batsmen hoping the ball misses bat and edge, automatically putting them in survival mode. After all, how do you attack late swing on the perfect length at searing pace?

Jasprit Bumrah’s hat-trick was truly special. According to CricViz, each ball swung more than the one previous, which can make it very easy for the ball to miss both bat and stumps.

So, how did Bumrah ensure that more swing still brought about wickets? Answer: pitching the ball up fuller.

Darren Bravo was done in by a beautiful away swinger, just days after one of the most lethal in-swinging deliveries sent his off-stump cartwheeling back to Mumbai. Surely Bravo had that in mind, so was covering his off-stump as best he could. So, what did Bumrah do? Start one from middle, forcing Bravo to play, catching the edge of his blade. This was 7.1m from the stumps.

Then entered Shamarh Brooks, playing in just his second Test. Indeed, if Brooks is judged harshly on his debut series, it will be considered one of the great injustices. With Bumrah’s outswinger to the left-handers on a string, India’s pace phenomenon knew that the inswinger to the right-hander will need to be fuller to bring bowled or LBW into the equation. As the graphic by CricViz above shows, the same ball to Brooks as Bravo would have been hitting the right-hander too high, whilst going down the legside. So, Bumrah pitched the ball full, with his late swing accounting for both Brooks and Roston Chase to complete his hat-trick.

This was magnificent thinking. When you combine pure skill and cricketing brains, as Bumrah also regularly shows in white-ball cricket, you have a once-in-a-lifetime talent.

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Humility to know he can improve, belief he can do it

Jasprit Bumrah’s unorthodox bowling style is not the only reason why he is not the typical fast bowler. Cricket is filled with instances of great fast bowlers yapping away. Dennis Lillee wouldn’t stop. Neither would Dale Steyn or the great West Indies pacers of yesteryear. The likes of Glenn McGrath, Mitchell Johnson and James Anderson would never shy away from the odd chat, too.

But, Bumrah just goes about his business. A true smiling assassin, he burst onto the scene in 2016, exceeding everyone’s expectations in terms of how far he could come in such a short space of time. Crucial to this has been his ability to constantly evolve his game. Apart from yorkers, hitting hard lengths and generating pace from flat surfaces – as was the case at the MCG in 2018, Bumrah has perfected an array of deliveries. From the subtlety of his slower ball to the threat of his newly-perfected out-swinger, Bumrah never settled for being as good as he was when he entered the scene. He always wanted to improve.

And it shows. With his natural angle coming into the right-hander, India and Bumrah knew that an out-swinger could be a game-changer. However, with it comes risk. What if it mucks up his action? What if it ruins his in-swinger? Such adjustments require belief, and Bumrah has it in spades.

Enjoy and cherish this man, India fans. He is your greatest ever fast bowler.

Thanks for reading!

Charbel Coorey, Australian Cricket Fan