MATCH STORIES
Follow UsWhat is the similarity between Jasprit Bumrah and the RK Beach of Visakhapatnam? Well, when the locals get fed up with the sweltering heat of the coast, they take an evening refugee near RK Beach. Life seems a little fairer and kinder in summer. Just like that, Bumrah comes as a fresh wave to calm the Indian nerves - no matter the situation and conditions on offer.
I am sure this is a terrible attempt at drawing an analogy, but what’s the thing that you can write about Jasprit Bumrah that’s not already been written?
First you see Ravichandran Ashwin fails to make things happen on a dead Indian wicket. Then you see, England’s much-vaunted Bazball takes the mickey out of Mukesh Kumar and even leaves Kuldeep Yadav dazed for a while. You see the lead is getting trimmer and England, as is their wont, are replying back in some style. You start to doubt if English dominance is set to extend the course for yet another Test.
There was a very good reason to believe in that narrative - except, it doesn’t happen. Because Bumrah shows up donning his foggy avatar and just like that - he turns the game around in a flash. From 114/1, England were reduced to 159/5.
This was a facet of Bumrah’s bowling that was unbeknownst to many. Him playing a home Test very rarely, his ability to receive the ball wasn’t really a known affair. But across the last two Tests, Bumrah has created a portfolio of model wicket-taking balls in such conditions.
Just ask Joe Root. The former English skipper was dismissed by the Gujarat pacer for the eighth time in his career - the most by a non-Australian pacer. In conditions where Bumrah could have been forgiven for taking it a little lightly, he was bending his arm and back - quite literally - every time a bowler threatened to let loose from the other end. Root’s wicket, a slip catch by Shubman Gill, was a validation of why Bumrah is the best pacer in the world by a fair margin.
Since the Bazball era, England have rarely been bogged down by the pressure. When Root was dismissed, England were three down, but the base that was created by Zak Crawley was screaming for some more atrocity. Against any other bowling attack - precisely any other attack sans Bumrah - that would have been the order of the day. But Bumrah thwarted their plans with a peach to dismiss Ollie Pope before luring Jonny Bairstow to an expansive drive that headed to Gill again. As a matter of fact, Bumrah bowled 91.7% of his balls between the 2-8m length - fully utilising the reverse swing on offer.
It is the very nature of the beast that many visiting teams have found out in the past - it is precisely why Anirudh Suresh argues India are better placed not to tamper with the very basic nature of the surface. While India have outstanding spinners in their ranks to outperform any spinning unit of the world, in the form of Bumrah, they have a pacer who averages a tad over 13 at home. How about challenging perceptions with that?
