Of subtly, without verbals or histrionics, letting the batters know who the boss is.
Jasprit Bumrah celebrates the wicket of Australia’s Steve Smith during the 1st Test in Perth recently. Pic/Getty Images
No one who saw Jasprit Bumrah fuss over his little baby boy at the Perth airport on Wednesday morning wouldn’t have been amazed at the transformation in the man when he holds a cricket ball of any colour in his right hand. The doting father to Angad, not yet 15 months old, reclaimed his rightful status as the No. 1 destroyer in the latest ICC rankings for Test bowlers, but such tags, however prestigious they might be, don’t necessarily appeal to him.
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Complete domination
More than anything else, Bumrah enjoys the art of bowling. Of taking wickets, sure, but also of setting batters up. Of working them over. Of pitting his skills against theirs. Of looking for ways and means to eke out an advantage even in the most batting-friendly of conditions. Of subtly, without verbals or histrionics, letting the batters know who the boss is.
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The Player of the Match award for his demolition job in the first Test against Australia in Perth is the latest feather in a Bumrah cap fast running out of space. Entrusted with the additional responsibility of manning the wheel in the absence of Rohit Sharma, Bumrah was in his elements as leader as well as fast bowler supreme, not just going about his own business without fuss but also getting the others, including a slew of first-time entrants to Test cricket in Australia, to lift themselves and rise to the occasion.
His mastery of the Australian top order was evident in his new-ball spells in both innings. In the first, post tea on Day One after India were bowled out for 150, he evicted Nathan McSweeney, Usman Khawaja and the celebrated Steve Smith — first ball, no less — before one could say Optus Stadium. That set the foundation for India’s 46-run lead. In the second, with the result more or less a formality once his batters had extended India’s overall advantage to 533, he ensured there was not even artificial excitement by dismissing McSweeney, again, and the beleaguered Marnus Labuschagne on the third evening.
What does one say of Bumrah that hasn’t already been said? His predatory instincts — only when he has the cricket ball — are second to none and he is a smart, commonsensical, thinking fast bowler who, for all his immense skills, is also remarkably patient. Bowling in Test cricket isn’t about going looking for wickets every ball, no matter how much of a genius resides in one lithe frame. Having exhorted his young pace attack not to overreach and embrace desperation in the first innings, Bumrah showed the way when it came to being disciplined and to hitting the right lengths on a track which, even when it slowed up, encouraged more bounce than most Indian surfaces.
Master of length
Bumrah accounted for McSweeney and Smith leg before in the first knock, no mean accomplishment for an Indian bowler in these conditions. Bumrah has played at the Optus before, but that was six years ago. To be able to zero in on the right length instantaneously was as impressive as his unyielding grip over Australia’s batters. Having poked the beast, Australia will be wary of what else is in store over the next six weeks.
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