Team India bowler Jasprit Bumrah put together remarkable performances across formats since his debut years ago. Bumrah ended 2024 as the best red-ball bowler with 77 Test wickets taken in a calendar year. His electrifying performances brought the Men in Blue success throughout 2024, and Bumrah still stood out when the team couldn’t deliver match-winning performances.
Bumrah’s individual brilliance also earned him 907 points in ICC annual rankings – the best tally by any Indian bowler ever. Recognition of the pacer stems from his superior bowling technique and overall game knowledge. Let’s check out Jasprit’s bowling technique and other interesting details about one of India’s greatest players in the modern sporting era.
Unique Bowling Action
Bumrah adopts a unique bowling approach easily recognizable by most avid cricket fans and analysts. He favours a short run-up with a hyperextended elbow and whiplash release to unsettle batters. Bumrah doesn’t rely on long strides or high arm positioning like classic pacers, but his action delivers electrifying pace and unpredictable bouncing motion.
Adaptable Bowling
Many fans can’t get enough of Bumrah’s ability to tweak his in-game bowling strategy towards achieving better results. The talented pacer doesn’t favour delivering balls with bouncing motion to outsmart batters.
However, Bumrah targets a mix of outswingers, inswingers, and slower deliveries to outthink batters. His combination of skillsets allow Bumrah deliver any type of bowling attack with impeccable precision.
Deep Dasgupta had this to say about Bumrah’s evolving techniques as a bowler:
“People often talk about the uniqueness of his action. In the first 1-2 years, that novelty factor made it tough for batters to figure him out. But here’s the greatness of Jasprit Bumrah-he’s been playing for 5-6 years now, in all formats, and still, batters struggle to decode him. So, I think we overemphasize the novelty factor; it’s more about his ability to keep evolving,” Dasgupta said.
Bumrah’s mastery of adaptation to bowling attacks is evident in how he approaches each format. He targets channel discipline and seam movement in Tests with great results. The talented bowler also favours containment in white-ball cricket, as evident from IPL 2024 data. Bumrah conceded under 7 runs per over in 80% of matches at IPL 2024.
Speed
Pacers need to get as much power behind their balls to outsmart batters. Bumrah is a legend in this category as he produces +150km per hour deliveries without stress whenever necessary. His pace attack remains difficult to beat years after Bumrah tore up batting opposition with balls at breakneck speeds.
Yorker Delivery
Bumrah is a consistent deliverer of yorkers and can nail these balls under pressure to tilt matches in his team’s favour. 2023 IPL data revealed that over 68% of Bumrah’s yorkers fall in the “blockhole” area. One of Bumrah’s memorable deliveries also came with a 4/14 vs Bangladesh at the 2022 T20 World Cup where three wickets of his came from yorkers.
Evolving Technique
Bumrah has had quite the transformation after over half-a-decade of consistent performances at the top level. The skilled cricketer relied on pace and yorkers for much of 2016 to 2018 and garnered a decent economy rate (7.8) within that period.
Bumrah’s development to include cutters and seam movements gained momentum from 2020. His approach saw an improvement in his average each year from that breakthrough season. Bumrah now blends raw pace and talent with a mix of bowling genius to keep batters guessing.
Former Team India Coach Hails Bumrah’s Bowling Technique
Paras Mhambrey was the former bowling coach for Team India. He recently applauded Bumrah’s development over time as a professional, citing his evolution as a product of focus and consistent desire to improve:
“You have to give credit to Bumrah for the way he has evolved as a player. He is so focused. He is aware of his game. He has a constant need to improve,” Mhambrey said.
Mhambrey believes Bumrah has made a significant impact across all formats of cricket, even if he plays fewer games compared to other players:
“That’s why he is number one. He’s the best in the world in all three formats. Don’t judge players by the number of games he’s played, but also on the impact he’s made in all three formats.”
Mhambrey also believes Bumrah has a strong work ethic that helps him produce remarkable performances across formats:
“Very few bowlers in the world create that impact in all three formats. His numbers in T20s, ODIs and Tests speak about his work ethics. He’s one of the few guys who enjoys playing Test cricket. He just doesn’t leave the ball,” Mhambrey added.
