'Genie' Bumrah: India's yorker king who carries a billion hopes / Photo: Punit PARANJPE - AFP
'Genie' Bumrah: India's yorker king who carries a billion hopes
With his ability to bowl yorkers at will, Jasprit Bumrah is India's main weapon as they hunt for their third T20 World Cup title on Sunday, and he will carry the hopes of a billion-plus fans in the cricket-obsessed country.
Bumrah's death-over bowling has been the key to the team's success including their narrow win over England in a high-scoring semi-final on Thursday in Mumbai.
Chasing a record 254 with Jacob Bethell hitting sixes for fun, England needed 45 off 18 balls when India skipper Suryakumar Yadav entrusted Bumrah for a pivotal 18th over, his last.
The right-arm quick nailed three perfect yorkers, two low full-tosses and a full ball as Bethell and Sam Curran could only squeeze out six runs.
It was the defining over in a match where bowlers had been lashed to all parts of the ground as England ended up agonisingly losing by just seven runs, despite Bethell's 105.
"Team India don't understand how lucky they are to have him in their ranks," former South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis said of the 32-year-old Bumrah on ESPNcricinfo.
"It is just proven time and time and time again, regardless of the format, you just give him the ball and he wins you games.
"It's a superpower that any captain will dream of. It's like having a genie, you just rub the lamp and out comes Bumrah."
Sanju Samson, who scored 89 to set up India's mammoth 253-7, called Bumrah "a once in a generation bowler".
Bumrah, who bowls with an unorthodox front-on slingshot action, returned figures of 1-33 from his four overs in a match where 499 runs were scored at the Wankhede Stadium.
- 'Best bowler in the world' -
England coach Brendon McCullum, on Sky Sports, said: "Bumrah is the best bowler in the world and he executed brilliantly and shut the game down.
Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar wrote on X: "So many elements in the game to talk about. Batting being sensational from both sides.
"But the difference between the two sides in the end was just one guy. The great Jasprit Bumrah!"
The veteran bowler, nicknamed "Boom Boom", has 117 wickets at an economy rate of 6.55 in 94 T20 matches for India since he made his debut in 2016.
Bumrah returns to the city of his birth, Ahmedabad to play Sunday's final against New Zealand, as India attempt to become the first team to retain the trophy and the first to win it on home soil.
His distinctive bowling style was honed in his childhood while practising in a small car park near his family's apartment in the western Indian city, now home to the 132,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium.
Bumrah has had his share of struggles and returned to the India team last year after a career-threatening back injury, which had also troubled him in 2022 and 2023.
He was central to India's 2024 T20 World Cup triumph in Barbados, where he was instrumental in preventing South Africa scoring 30 runs off the last 30 balls to win the final, a performance dubbed as "masterclass" by then skipper Rohit Sharma.
The seeds of his greatness were sown at his Indian Premier League team Mumbai Indians, where he has been a fixture for more than a decade.
Former New Zealand batsman John Wright scouted the pace bowler from his home state of Gujarat and brought him to Mumbai in 2013, when the Indians won the first of their five IPL titles.
Bumrah made an instant impact by dismissing Bengaluru's star batsman Virat Kohli in his first match and there has been no looking back since.
F.Bellezza--LDdC
