Jasprit Bumrah: Right Arm Fast. The categorisation is oversimplifying Bumrah. He is many in one—a versatile new-ball merchant; an old-ball virtuoso, a seam artiste; supreme length-manipulator, an all-format freak of nature, a talisman and a matchwinner, an icon and an entertainer. On Saturday, he was all, more than all, and pure theatre too.
There are many reasons spectators flock to watch him in flesh or turn on the television when he is winding up that unique action of his. Apart from the sense of achievement that will grow with the years in just having been there the day that Bumrah did that, a desperation almost to be part of him in some tiny way, Bumrah brings something for everyone. For the masses, he gifts the visceral thrill of a supersonic fast bowler splaying stumps and blasting pads; for purists the joys of his fine subtleties; for the scientists the mechanics of his action; for the students of the game, a light of enlightenment; and for the spectators watching from the stands, a song for their tune, a rhythm for their beat.
If Bumrah does not make you fall in love with cricket, perhaps nothing this decade in cricket will.
He began the Super Saturday, exceeding his own powers to entertain. His 16- ball 31 was both pantomime and cult. He consigned Stuart Broad, he of the retro headband and 550 Test wickets, to another slice of cricketing ignominy—35 runs in an over, 31 runs from his bat. No one ever has scored as many runs in a single over in Tests as Bumrah had—not Rishabh Pant or Virender Sehwag; not Brian Lara or Viv Richards.
Jasprit Bumrah: Right Arm Fast. The categorisation is oversimplifying Bumrah. He is many in one—a versatile new-ball merchant; an old-ball virtuoso, a seam artiste; supreme length-manipulator, an all-format freak of nature, a talisman and a matchwinner, an icon and an entertainer. On Saturday, he was all, more than all, and pure theatre too.
There are many reasons spectators flock to watch him in flesh or turn on the television when he is winding up that unique action of his. Apart from the sense of achievement that will grow with the years in just having been there the day that Bumrah did that, a desperation almost to be part of him in some tiny way, Bumrah brings something for everyone. For the masses, he gifts the visceral thrill of a supersonic fast bowler splaying stumps and blasting pads; for purists the joys of his fine subtleties; for the scientists the mechanics of his action; for the students of the game, a light of enlightenment; and for the spectators watching from the stands, a song for their tune, a rhythm for their beat.
If Bumrah does not make you fall in love with cricket, perhaps nothing this decade in cricket will.
He began the Super Saturday, exceeding his own powers to entertain. His 16- ball 31 was both pantomime and cult. He consigned Stuart Broad, he of the retro headband and 550 Test wickets, to another slice of cricketing ignominy—35 runs in an over, 31 runs from his bat. No one ever has scored as many runs in a single over in Tests as Bumrah had—not Rishabh Pant or Virender Sehwag; not Brian Lara or Viv Richards.
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