Inside Jasprit Bumrah’s rise to become one of the greatest fast bowlers ever

At first he was derided, but now Jasprit Bumrah is stamping himself as one of the greatest fast bowlers to ever play the game. ROBERT CRADDOCK goes inside the Indian’s rise.

When Jasprit Bumrah first emerged from his cramped backyard to be a bowler with a future, suspicious rivals mocked and derided his quirky action.

Cricket being the conservative beast that it is, you can just picture the raised eyebrows.

The hop, step and jump action (as Ravi Shastri calls it), the arm which bends back and straightens (totally legally it turns out) is all part of a unique package that resembles no other cricketer.

But no-one is laughing or mocking now as Bumrah stamps himself as one of the greatest fast bowlers to have played the game.

His 5-30 against Australia means he is averaging around 18 per wicket in Australia in his three tours here, rare air indeed.

In the last 50 years or so the only bowler to match that progress in Australia is the iconic New Zealander Richard Hadlee who sliced and diced Australia in the mid-1980s with supreme ruthlessness.

Since then there has been rampaging fast men of freakish talent like Curtly Ambrose, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall and Wasim Akram carve paths of destruction across our wide brown land which gave them averages per wicket of just under or over the magical mark of 20 in Australia.

Ambrose had more imposing body language, Hadlee had a more intimidating stare, Marshall – some say the greatest of all – had a slightly bigger reputation.

But the menace of Bumrah is as great – or greater – than all of them.

Bumrah has ripped Australia apart. Picture: COLIN MURTY / AFP

Mystery and quirkiness rarely works in cricket. Mystery spinners normally get spanked. Super fast bowlers normally break down. Big sloggers normally run out of puff.

Yet here is this quirky, self-styled genius, turning Australia inside out and the record book upside down.

Bumrah, raised in Ahmedabad by his high school teacher mother after his father died of hepatitis when he was five, took a wicket with his first ball of the day on day two when Alex Carey nibbled and edge behind.

But he did have to bowl 18 overs in the innings which spotlighted the issue of the massive workload he faces this summer - which is where his quirky run-up becomes his greatest friend.

“The run-up is because of playing in the backyard,” he once told Wisden.

“We didn’t have a lot of space when I used to play as a child. This was the longest run-up you could have.

“I’ve tried a longer run-up and nothing changes – the speed is still the same. So why run so much? When I’m bowling my fourth spell, fifth spell, I’m relatively more fresh than the bowlers who play with me and have a longer run-up. This was my theory.

Because of Bumrah’s unusual action and late release, Fox Cricket’s David Warner said he creates an optical illusion each ball is going to be short.

Often it’s the opposite and he will deliver cricket’s finest yorker, a ball he honed indoors by targeting the area where the wall met the floor to keep the noise down while his mum was sleeping.

Pakistan great Wasim Akram, himself in the conversation for the title of the game’s greatest quick, watched Bumrah in action in Perth and declared “he is the best bowler in the world in all three formats.

“I mean, he is just a brilliant bowler to watch. He picked up the batter’s weaknesses very quickly.’’

Originally published as Inside Jasprit Bumrah’s rise to become one of the greatest fast bowlers ever