Unbelievable! Bumrah’s Yorkers Leave RCB in Shambles

Jasprit Bumrah’s Impact : Bumrah picked up a five-fer to derail RCB. During the Mumbai Indians-Royal Challengers Bangalore match at the Wankhede in Mumbai on Thursday night, Ravi Shastri made a significant comment on air. He dwelt upon Jasprit Bumrah’s fearlessness in bowling yorkers during the powerplay. Now, one might question the importance of this observation. However, given the minimal outfield protection, precision becomes an overriding necessity for a bowler during this phase, a luxury that can perhaps be afforded in other stages of the game. The execution of the toe-crusher, especially in the initial overs, is crucial as it carries the risk of being dispatched for boundaries.

Unbelievable! Bumrah’s Yorkers Leave RCB in Shambles

While Bumrah did falter on one occasion, conceding a boundary to Will Jacks, he remains one of the most effective bowlers in the powerplay, and indeed, overall as well. His prowess was evident at the Wankhede, where he dismantled half of the Royal Challengers’ batting lineup. It was a different matter that the visitors could still manage 196, but not enough to test the power-packed Mumbai batting line-up which made a mockery of the total.

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Despite the commanding batting display, the Mumbai win was engineered by the skill, accuracy, guile and penetration of Bumrah on a wicket that had little for the bowlers. The five-fer in the match was the right reward for his abilities and few bowlers in the league are as deserving of the Purple Cap that he holds now. Incidentally, it was the first five-wicket haul by any bowler against the Royal Challengers.

Coaches generally advise against attempting yorkers with the new ball due to the inherent risks involved. However, Bumrah defies conventional wisdom by employing this tactic often, relying totally on his strengths of accuracy, confidence, and, above all, control. While Mitchell Starc may be the only other bowler who treads that path too, Bumrah stands unrivaled in terms of success.

Presently, he not only leads the charts as the highest wicket-taker this season with 10 scalps but also boasts the second-best economy rate of 5.95 (after Krunal Pandya at 5.50). His overall IPL economy rate hovers just over seven (7.33) – the second best after Lasith Malinga among fast bowlers who have played at least 100 IPL matches. It is a feat matched by few when combining both strike rate and economy. With 155 wickets from 125 games, Bumrah’s prowess is irresistible.

Bumrah is hardly seen at the nets the day before the match, something most other bowlers avoid too, largely to stay fresh for the contest, but those who have followed him say he completes his routine without fail. He would bowl the overs he is told which is normally between six and 10 overs a net session depending on the format he is preparing for, and mostly stays grounded. “He practices in the nets. He has so much experience and confidence,” MI captain Hardik Pandya said. “I am lucky to have Bumrah on my side. He does this over and over again. Every time I ask him he gets the wickets.”

Bumrah attributed his success to preparation. “Preparation is always the key. (It is) important to keep pushing yourself before a game,” he said. “I try to not be a one-trick pony, I have worked on this early in my career. People start to line you up. I want to have different skills. Bowling is tough, because you will have to take a beating. When things have not worked out for me the next day I would see the videos and analyse what did not work. (It was) one of those days where what I was executing was working (sic).”

Bumrah has an extensive armoury under his belt. He can bowl bouncers, slower ones, swing the ball both ways and of course can deliver Yorkers at will. He can unleash slow cutters. The delivery that got Virat Kohli was a peach. A hard length delivery that cut back and caught Kohli by surprise. He tried to swing but managed to only edge it to the wicketkeeper. That was the wicket in the powerplay and as he does often, Pandya did not give Bumrah more than one over initially. He came back later to take the wickets of Faf du Plessis, Mahipal Lomror, Saurav Chauhan and Vijaykumar Vyshak and was on a hat-trick twice in those four overs, which he finished with five for 21.

He was the difference, admitted Faf du Plessis. “He has been the difference in the two innings. You want to put him under pressure, but the variety does everyone in. He has got a really good bouncer, slower ball, someone like (Lasith) Malinga. He was the best bowler in T20 cricket, but Bumrah has taken over. You know you can bring him on and take the wickets but also be defensive,” the RCB captain said.

He was supremely effective in the previous match too, against Delhi Capitals, claiming two wickets which came at the right time and gave a result to Mumbai Indians that arrested their three-match losing streak. The problem before the five-time champions is the huge chasm between Bumrah and the rest of the bowling lineup, something Ishan Kishan agreed saying, “the team is working on this.” If they had addressed the issue from the start of the season, they would have had more than two wins from five games.