Jasprit Bumrah justifies his selection, makes an impressive start: 22-year old Jasprit Bumrah, who is a part of the T20 squad currently in Australia, replaced an injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the ODI team. The team management made a wise decision to ‘blood in’ the youngster into the Playing XI for the fifth and final ODI at Sydney.
Clearly the youngster not only ‘not disappoint’, but also went a step further proving better than his senor 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 be the best one in the innings. Faulkner was beaten on the length, only to find his off-stump knocked out.
While his senior team mates Ishant Sharma went for 6 runs an over (60 runs in 10 overs), the other speedster, Umesh Yadav gave away as many as 82 runs in 8 overs,
Rishi Dhawan also went for 7.40 runs per over in his quota of 10 overs.
Back home Jasprit had a wonderful outing in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015, the 50-over format in the domestic circuit.
Having played in 9 games, the right-arm seamer picked up 21 wickets at an average of 16.09, with an economy rate of 4.02 and 24.0 strike-rate. He has one ‘5-wicket’ haul’, which he achieved in the title clash against Delhi, played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, on 28th December 2015.
Picking up 5/28 in his spell of 9.3 overs, giving away 28 runs, Bumrah was instrumental in Gujarat defeating Delhi and annexing the trophy title.
Making his IPL debut for the game against Rajasthan Royals on 4th April 2013, in which he claimed 3/32, Bumrah has featured in 17 matches, picking up 11 wickets at an average of 50.45, an economy rate of 9.0 with 3/32 as his best performance.
Playing 8 games in Ranji Trophy 2015-16, he has claimed 21 wickets at an average of 25.47, economy rate of 2.67 and a strike rate of 57.2. His best performance has been 4/47 in an innings and 7/84 in a match.
Post making his first-class debut on 27th October, 2013, in the game against Vidarbha, in which he had a haul of 7/89 (4/30 in the first innings and 3/59 in the second), the Gujarat youngster has featured in 18 matches (30 innings) and has scalped 64 wickets, averaging 25.01 with 5/52 and 8/106 being the best performance in an innings and in a match respectively. He has three ‘4-wicket hauls’ and an equal number of ‘5-wicket’ hauls.
With the bowling action that is more identical with that of the Sri Lankan speedster, Lasith Malinga, this youngster is here to stay and represent the country for a long period of time.
He needs to take care about the injury aspect and has to work towards being ‘match fit’ at all points of time do that he can be an integral part of the Indian dressing room for a long period of time.
