Before Bumrah became an integral part of the Indian Twenty20 International squad, he was a part of Gujarat’s Under 19 Team. His story began when John Wright, the former Team India Coach, the then Mumbai Indians Coach and Talent Scout, spotted him during the 2013 Mushtaq Ali Trophy (West Zone) at Ahmedabad. In John Wright’s words, “I was watching Gujarat’s death overs and for the first time Bumrah. He bowled at good pace, a couple of overs of really good yorkers with an unusual action. He really impressed; he bowled one ball that must have landed in the bowler’s footmarks at the other end, and it took off over Parthiv Patel’s head who was keeping, and went for four byes.” Wright immediately called up Rahul Sanghvi, the MI manager and signed Bumrah by the very next day itself and the rest as they say, was history.

The then 19 year old, Jasprit Jasbirsingh Bumrah shot into the limelight when he made his IPL debut with figures of 3-32 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, becoming only the second bowler in the side to pick three wickets on debut. Notably his first IPL wicket was his Indian Team mate, Virat Kolhi.

Bumrah is one of the few bowlers who consistently pick up wickets. He has matured into a different and effective bowler from one that he started off as. The IPL has groomed Bumrah’s development as a pace bowler, having rubbed shoulders against reputed masters of cricket. Besides this, he has been trained by the ‘Slinga’ himself. This led to him developing an admirable attribute of being a death bowler who doesn’t bowl but throws pin-point darts at the toes! This has been praised by ‘Captain Cool’ Dhoni himself; Dhoni called him the “find of the Australia tour” during his International debut against Australia in January 2016. Dhoni has long lamented the lack of a specialist death bowler and in Bumrah, the captain seems to finally get one.

One of Bumrah’s many strengths are his upright wrist position, which allows him to hit the seam often and bring the ball back sharply into the right-hander. He bowls the ideal length which helps him to move the ball around, while creating uncertainty in the batsman’s mind. At his pace and with the length he bowls, Bumrah is more than a handful. What makes him even more dangerous is that without any change in his wrist position, but with a subtle change in the manner he holds the ball, he gets the ball to move away from the right-hander.

India and Mumbai Indians have invested in a player that keeps paying dividends by the minute. Let’s hope the protégé of Lasith Malinga continues to be impressive and have an eventful career, one that we definitely are looking forward to.