He breathes in, runs as joyful as a young kid running towards his/her mother, like a young deer ready to see the world for the first time. He then takes a leap, raises his arms- where you would see noodle-arm extension like Shoaib Akhtar’s something similar to the whip in Golf club- he follows the batsman, goes with the instinct.
Though he didn’t openly speak about it, he has hyper-extension in his joints, something you call it as a “condition”. With this condition, injuries take more time to heal but He doesn’t try too hard. He knows what he needs to do. Even if he had gone for plenty, it is always going to be the batsman who is under pressure before he can follow you with a brilliant short ball or hit you hard on your toes for an LBW or even embarrass you with a pinpoint yorker. He is super smart to change his line and length even at the very last second. He not only has inherited the bowling techniques from Malinga but also the calmness, something that keeps him going. He rarely celebrates the wickets because he knows it’s his bread and butter.
What makes him impactful is that his USP keeps changing every year. It was his slinging action when he entered the IPL, then he added those slower deliveries to his kitty with those pinpoint yorkers. He is constantly improving and constantly learning a thing or two from not only the coaches but also from the fellow players. He is open to advise and ideas but goes in with them if only he thinks it’s good. One such example was Rohit Sharma’s idea to dismiss Marsh during the Test series against Australia. He went with the idea because it was good.
The best part of Bumrah is that he is an amalgam of unorthodox bowling with traditional techniques. While everybody is going behind the newest T20 weapon, the knuckleball, he is making the good old yorker look all pretty once again.
Shoaib Malik guides Jaffna to become Inaugural Champions