Column | Bumrah - a rare diamond

“Individual performances kept us in the game”. This statement by coach Rahul Dravid summed up India’s display in the second Test of the ongoing series against England that they won by a convincing margin of 106 runs. A magnificent double century by young Yashasvi Jaiswal helped India stitch together a total of 396 in the first innings, while Shubhman Gill’s 104 helped the side reach a decent score in the second and post a stiff target for their opponents. But the coup de grace was delivered by Jasprit Bumrah, the leader of the pace attack, who bowled with pace and venom to break the back of England batting in both innings to return figures of 9/91. Bumrah won the player-of-the-match award for his splendid performance, which helped India level the series.

Almost by coincidence, around the same time that he put on display this spell of tremendous bowling at Visakhapatnam came the news that Bumrah had also moved to the top spot in International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings for bowlers. He replaced Ravichandran Ashwin from this spot, while becoming the first Indian fast bowler to achieve the feat. This was exhilarating news since it had appeared downright impossible, and even crazy, to even dream about an Indian pacer achieving this status till recent times.

It is not in doubt that Bumrah is one the best fast bowlers in contemporary cricket. Armed with an unorthodox sling action and an uncanny ability to hit the blockhole almost at will, Bumrah can strike terror in the minds of batsmen solely on account of the sheer speed at which he delivers the ball. He is also an exponent of the art of reverse swing, which he demonstrated in ample measure during the Visakhapatnam Test. He has all the stock weapons of a fast bowler in his armoury, including a mean bouncer and a sly slower one, and no batsman can afford to relax when he has the ball in hand. He has a short run up for a speedster, but makes up for this by the power of his shoulders, the perfect alignment of his torso and his limbs and the height from which he delivers the ball, all of which combine to help him clock speeds in excess of 145 kilometres per hour on a consistent basis.

Bumrah’s action and reliance on shoulder for generating pace invited comparison with Jeff Thomson, the fast bowling great of the 1970s, from none other then Dennis Lillee. His ability to bowl near perfect yorkers made his teammates in Mumbai Indians squad compare him with Lasith Malinga. But, when it comes to Test matches, the only fast bowler with who he can be compared is Waqar Younus of Pakistan, both for his skill to reverse swing the ball in a perfect manner and the shoe crushing yorkers sent down with unerring accuracy.

Fast bowlers who depend on their shoulder for generating pace are prone to suffer from injuries to their back. Bumrah has been no exception and the angle at which he lands after delivering the ball makes him more susceptible to injuries on his lower spine. He suffered a stress fracture of his lower vertebrae in 2019, which kept him out of the game for close to six months. He went down with what was first diagnosed as “back spasms” during August, 2022. But it was later found that it was stress fracture and he had to undergo a prolonged period of rehabilitation following a surgery during the latter part of 2022 and first half of 2023. But he recovered completely and led the Indian attack during the 2023 ICC World Cup. This is in addition to a host of other injuries, such as fracture to thumb and strain of abdominal muscles, that he had picked up during his career till date.

As the spearhead of Indian attack in all three formats of the game, there is a huge workload on Bumrah’s shoulders. The strain of playing in various versions of the game, all interspersed with one another adds to the strain brought on the muscles of his back and brings more stress on his lower spine. The Indian team management and owners of Mumbai Indians, the franchisee for who Bumrah turns out in Indian Premier League (IPL), should put their heads together and chalk out a schedule to utilise his services in an optimum manner. Other wise, he runs the risk of being bogged down by injuries again, which would be disastrous, not only to his career, but to Indian cricket as a whole. 

The news release also stated that Bumrah bettered the record of Kapil Dev who had held second place during the period from December, 1979, to February, 1980. The ICC was not the czar of all cricket across the globe in the 1970s and 80s nor was there any system for ranking performance with the bat and ball. However, by this system of reverse ranking, the ICC was able to grade cricketers of earlier times also and rank there performances. Though this is neither a fair system nor does it does not have any contemporary relevance, it serves the extremely valuable purpose of reminding the followers of the game about some of the outstanding performances of the erstwhile years.

This was precisely what happened when one read about Kapil being placed second through this system. As a person who started following this game and the fortunes of the nation side from the 1970s, it can be said with certainty that the period from December, 1979, to February, 1980, was the most exciting ones for Indian cricket during this decade, since the heady days of 1971 when India humbled the West Indies and England in their den.

An all powerful Pakistan team under Asif Iqbal toured India  for a six-Test series from November, 1979. This side boasted of legends such as as Imran Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Majid Khan and Javed Miandad besides Wasim Bari, Iqbal Qasim and the skipper himself. They had vanquished India in 1978  and the tour in 1979-80 started in the warm afterglow of that victory. In other words, the  visitors were expected to defeat India without breaking too much sweat. The statement of Sunil Gavaskar, then leading India, that “Pakistan would smash us to pulp”, also contributed substantially toward creating “next to nil” expectations in the minds of  followers of the game in India when this series began.

However, when action began on the cricket field, one could witness the evolution of a miracle. After a dull draw at Bangalore, India held off a stiff challenge from  Pakistan in the second Test and went on to win the third one at Mumbai. A rain-affected fourth Test at Kanpur did not yield any result but India outclassed the visitors by a margin of 10 wickets in the next match at Chennai. The last Test at Kolkata ended in a draw, and the hosts emerged with a 2-0 win over their opponents. This remains, till date, the most comprehensive series win by India over Pakistan in a series.

Though cricket is a team game and the contributions of all players in the squad helped script this win, the performance of one cricketer stood heads and shoulders over the others. Kapil was the star of the series with 32 wickets to his credit, besides two splendid half-centuries with the bat in Mumbai and Chennai. He picked up nine wickets at Delhi and scalped six Pakistani batsmen in the only innings that he bowled at Kanpur. But it was his performance at Chennai that would remain etched in the memories of fans for all times to come. It would not be an exaggeration to state that he destroyed the famed Pakistani batting line-up singlehandedly by picking up 11 wickets (4/90 in the first innings and 7/56 in the second). He further rubbed salt into the wounds of Pakistanis by hitting a quick-fire 84 off 98 balls to push Pakistan out of the contest. There was no doubt as to who was the architect behind this win; this was simply “Kapil’s series”.

One could wonder why such a brilliant performance did not catapult Kapil to the top of the rankings. The reason is simple: there were too many great performers with the ball during that period. At the same that India triumphed over Pakistan, Australia played two back-to-back series against the West Indies and England where Lillee, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Ian Botham and Joel Garner were in the thick of action. It was a highly completive period for fast bowlers and it is to Kapil’s credit that he could command respect and find his own space even in this elite company.

It would not be fair to compare cricketers of different generations since the challenges faced and the conditions under which the game is played  are markedly different. However, there is one area where Bumrah could do well to emulate Kapil and this is with regard to fitness. Kapil came to the national side at a time when One-Day Internationals (ODIs) were gaining in popularity. He led the Indian attack in Tests and ODIs throughout his career. Such were his levels of fitness that he did not miss even one Test due to injury or illness. The only occasion when he stayed out of the national side was in 1984 when he was forced to skip the Asia Cup  for undergoing a surgery on knee. It is true that cricket was not played all the year around during those times and there was no T20 cricket or IPL. But Kapil played in domestic circuit where he led Haryana to Ranji Trophy triumph in 1991. 

Bumrah is only 30 years old and has plenty of cricket ahead of him. He should be preserved for important matches so that his services are available to the country for as long as possible. He should undertake a tight fitness regime under the supervision of the best coaching and medical advice available in the country to prevent recurrence of the injuries that have bogged him down. 

Bumrah is a rare diamond gifted by God to Indian cricket. It will be a tragedy of epic proportions if his career suffers an early demise due to mismanagement and excess workload.

(The author is a former international cricket umpire and a senior bureaucrat)