Jasprit Bumrah now has become the first Indian pacer to top ICC Test Rankings

Presented by: Raghunath Nair

Introduction

Team India pacer Jasprit Bumrah, India’s leading new ball bowler in all formats has made it to the top of the ICC Test Ranking for the first time in Indian history.

How Bumrah became the top-ranked Test bowler:

The announcement of Jasprit Bumrah’s test rankings milestone came after a scintillating performance in the Visakhapatnam Test Match in the ongoing India – England Test Series.

Current Test Series vs England

With India and England having one win each, the test match series will be keenly watched

Jaspreet Bumrah was the Player of the Match for his match-winning performance in both innings taking 9 wickets in the match surpassing a brilliant feat of 200+ Runs scored by Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first innings.

With 881 rating points, Jaspreet Bumrah Jasprit Bumrah test rankings milestone went past Pat Cummins Kagiso Rabada and Ravichandran Ashwin to jump to Numero Uno Position

Jasprit – The Bowler

With his unique Bowling Action, Jaspreet Bumrah became an overnight sensation when he debuted against South Africa a few years back.

Jasprit Bumrah has been a bowler with immense self-confidence in his skill and he has redefined modern-day fast bowling. Unlike past pace bowlers for India, Jasprit Bumrah has the speed along with the art of swing, seam, and accuracy which makes him unique from other Indian bowlers.

Another quality that makes him unique to contemporary fast bowlers of this era is that he is an all-format bowler and plays all three formats of the game.

Fastest to Reach 150 Test Wickets

With him giving utmost priority to Test cricket, Jasprit Bumrah brought in a revolution, where pace bowling has now become a potent weapon in Indian cricket.

Traditionally, India was known as a spin bowling Test team. While Kapil Dev remains the best for India to date, he was a lone wolf in the Indian pace bowling attack, while Jasprit has the luxury of some able bowling partners who keep the pressure on the other end too.

Bumrah has 150 wickets in 34 Test matches and now has become the fastest Indian pacer to reach the milestone.

The Unconventional Jasprit Bumrah

One associates fast bowler with rhythmic runup, sprint to the crease, a smooth follow through, and a synchronized action with the arms. This is in complete contrast to the action we see with Jasprit Bumrah.

Jasprit has the most unconventional bowling action. With small brisk step walks and minimal run to the crease like a slow medium bowler, one would mistake this bowling action for a slow medium pacer but with an open arm action and whip with the wrist before the release, the batsman is hurried up with bowling speed of 140+ Km/hr.

The conventional action gave the impression that Jasprit is a bowler for the limited-overs games and not made for Test Cricket.

Even ex-cricketers started labeling Jasprit as a limited-over bowler.

While in Mumbai Indians, initially, Bumrah played the second fiddle in the bowling department as Mumbai Indian bowling revolved around Sri Lankan legend Lasith Malinga.

Over the years, Jasprit improved his skill sets in the Mumbai Indian camp becoming the reason for the franchise’s record IPL championships. 

Known as an intelligent reader of the game, Jasprit quickly adapted to all 3 formats of the game. His control of different lengths in all 3 formats has made Jasprit Bumrah the No. 1 Bowler in the ICC Test ranking today becoming the first Indian pacer in the top of ICC rankings.

He learnt the art of bowling the away swinger which allowed him to bamboozle the batsman with swing and keep the batsman guessing with his awkward non-conventional bowling. The action allows him to control his reverse swings better than any fast bowler in the current cricket circuit.

Like the ex-Australian player, Glen Mc Grath, Jasprith Bumrah has great control over his line and length which comes with years of disciplined bowling.

Luke Mc Grath, he wears the batsman down with his accuracy and concedes very few runs which helps in building up the pressure. He ends up taking wickets with a great strike rate and conceding the fewest runs.

Action of Jasprit Bumrah – A Recipe for Injuries

 With his unconventional Bowling style, many former greats were wary of Jaspreet’s longevity in the game, citing the probability of injuries.

Though Bumrah missed a full year away from cricket due to injury, Jasprit has been able to manage his body considering he plays all 3 formats.

Jasprit has come back to international cricket, after his injury break, as a much more dangerous bowler and he would be handy in West Indies conditions in the T20 World Cup.

The hyperextension and shoulder action help Bumrah to generate consistent speed even with his short run-up.

Jasprit Bumrah – The Student

Bumrah comes up as a player who has a good head for the game. He studies a lot of videos and plans his move. He is a self-trained bowler and coaches in the senior team have allowed him the freedom to execute his plans.

He sits with the video analyst and knows what a batter doesn’t like. So, with the skill he has, he just executes.

He is a quick learner and can study the batsman and plan his next move.

Conclusion

Jasprit Bumrah is a once in a lifetime cricketer and needs to be protected. He is the only Indian pacer in ICC rankings top honors. He should be sparingly used and be given enough rest between games to recover from the grinds and expectations in the game.

Jasprit Bumrah test rankings milestone came with 881 ranking points, followed by South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada with 842 points in second place and Ravichandran Ashwin with 841 points in third place.

Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are in 4th and 5th position.

Cricket bowling records – Top 5 Test bowling records

Bumrah’s test cricket milestone- In great company

Significance of Bumrah’s achievement for Indian cricket:

Only three Indian bowlers, Bishen Singh Bedi, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ravichandran Ashwin have been at the top of the ICC Test Ranking in the past; it is a first for an Indian Fast Bowler.