Jasprit Bumrah delivers on T20I debut : The 22-year old Jasprit Bumrah, while playing in the game representing Gujarat, against Mumbai, in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2013, the domestic T20 version, caught the attention of Mumbai Indians coach, John Wright, who was in ‘the market’ scouting for talents.
Being impressed with the youngster’s performance, Wright recommended him to the franchisee. Sooner than later, before even playing a First Cass game, Bumrah was seen ‘rubbing shoulders’ in the Mumbai Indians dug-out with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Harbhajan Singh, to name a few.
Though he did not have a great outing in SMAT 2015, in which he picked up only 14 wickets from 9 games, he ended up at the top of the ‘leading wicket-takers’ table in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015-16 (the domestic version of 50-over game), picking up 21 wickets from 9 innings at an economy of 4.02 with 5/28 being his best bowling performance in the title-clash against Delhi, helping Gujarat win the trophy.
His appearance in 8 games (12 innings) in Ranji Trophy 2015-16, saw him claim 21 wickets with 4/47 and 7/84 being his best performances in an innings and in a match respectively.
These good performances were rewarded by a call to be a part of the Indian squad for the T20I series against Australia, being played Down Under.
However, luck smiled on him when Bhuvneshwar Kumar proved to be a ‘non-starter’ for the fifth and final ODI encounter at Sydney, the team management decided to ‘blood in’ this youngster and gave him his ODI cap.
Clearly the youngster not only ‘not disappoint’, but also went a step further proving better than his senior team mates, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav.
Team India went into the match with three seamers (Ishant, Umesh and Bumrah), an all-rounder (Rishi), a spinner (Jadeja) and a part-time spinner (Gurkeerat).
Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers returning with an impressive analysis of 10-0-40-2, picking up the prize wickets of the Aussie skipper, Steven Smith (28) and the dangerous all-rounder, James Faulkner (1).
The youngster exercised a great control on the line and length. The delivery that claimed Faulkner could, ideally, be the best one in the innings. Faulkner was beaten on the length, only to find his off-stump being knocked out.
Bumrah carried his ‘good performance’ in to the T20 format. Playing in the first of the three-match series at Adelaide, he accounted for the crucial wickets of the dangerous opener, David Warner (17), James Faulkner (10) and Cameroon Boyce (3), giving away 23 runs in his spell of 3.3 overs. He gave these breakthroughs just before these batsmen could become dangerous, starting to score big runs.
His IPL experience came in handy except that he was playing an international game. Outing in the fifth and final ODI would have definitely given him an insight of ‘tricks of the trade’ at the international level. The seniors in the team also would have counselled him very well, since a very confident Bumrah was seen on the field.
Consistency in his performance would definitely augur well, giving him a longer run to be a part of the Indian dressing room.
Now that Team India would traversing the T20 mode upto the ICC T20 World Cup, young Bumrah would do well by putting up stellar performance in the remaining two T20I games against Australia, the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka at home and the Asia Cup at Bangladesh, all in preparation for the big event, back home.
He needs to take care about the injury aspect and has to work towards being ‘match fit’ at all points of time so that he can be an integral part of the Indian dressing room for a long time to come.
