Jasprit Bumrah has put the doubts over his efficacy after returning from a back surgery to bed with a string of high quality performances spread across formats. Bumrah was forced to miss several months of competitive cricket between September 2022 and August 2023 because of a recurring back injury for which he underwent a surgery in New Zealand.
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There were concerns if Bumrah will be the same bowler given the potential impact of the injury but neither has he lost the bite or the pace that has made few wonder if he’s the greatest fast bowler to have come out of India.
Be it the 2023 ODI World Cup, the five-match Test series against England at home earlier this year, the IPL 2024 or recent T20 World Cup, Bumrah has been stamping his authority with the outgoing India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey calling him a once-in-a-generation bowler.
“I feel Bumrah is a freak,” Mhambrey told The Hindu. “He is once-in-a-generation-bowler that this game has seen. If you look at each and every format — T20, he is up there, one-dayers he is up there, even Test cricket, he is right up there.”
Mhambrey refuses to take any credit in Bumrah’s on-field show.
“It’s a great opportunity for me to take credit, saying that I have told Bumrah: ‘this is the way we need to go. This is what you need to bowl’ you know. But I wish I can take that credit,” Mhambrey quipped.
“But the credit completely goes to him. Just the way he just bounced back from that injury, was heartening to see. I haven’t seen many people going through a back surgery, coming back and being as or may be more effective than what he was earlier,” he added.
Mhambrey is signing out on a high with T20 World Cup being his final assignment as India bowling coach and he feels Bumrah has also been admirably guiding the young bowlers.
“There is lot of maturity out there, ready to willingly take responsibility in the team. He knows that his job is not only to go and win games for the country, which he does fabulously, but his role is a lot more to be the guiding light around the younger guys,” he said.
Arshdeep Singh, the joint-highest wicket-taker of the T20 World Cup, recently recounted how Bumrah has been helping out his teammates giving his own example when an accurate suggestion from his senior resulted in him taking a wicket.
Mhambrey says that during his tenure there were more lows than highs but bowing out with a world cup win has been satisfying.
“There may have been a lot of lows, less highs. But to be able to overcome that and just finish the term with the World Cup in what was my last assignment, to be able to finish with the win, I think that’s satisfying and rewarding. So exiting with happy memories and a lot of learnings,” he said.
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