Jasprit Bumrah, diagnosed with a minor stress fracture in his lower back that BCCI insists he will easily overcome, has still raised major concerns. A bowling style, ambling to the crease before packing all power and effort into an unusual action, could expose him to a repeat of such an injury, fear experts.
The Indian fast bowler has emerged the hottest property in international cricket, including in Tests, a format he began playing only in January 2018, in South Africa. He has zoomed up the rankings and taken wickets by the bagful, making India arguably the best bowling line-up in international cricket today.
It has been six years since he made his first-class debut, but it has become clear with the few long-format matches (38 first-class games compared to 140 T20s and 83 ODIs) he has played that it is the limited-overs format, especially T20, that the 25-year-old’s body has got more attuned to.
Former India pace bowler Manoj Prabhakar says there is a problem with Bumrah’s action as it is not meant for bowling fast. Prabhakar says even Mohammed Shami is prone to injury.
“He (Bumrah) has such a small run-up, all the load falls on his lower back. As a bowler you need to have a back-up (run-up). Even while you are throwing a javelin, you run up to the delivery point building momentum. He doesn’t run. How will he survive? All good bowlers like Lillee (after comeback), Kapil Dev and Imran Khan had a good back-up,” he points out.
Prabhakar is also concerned with Bumrah’s open-chested action. “Your back always suffers with an open-chested action. It (combined with a lack of run-up) is not for the long run. He will have to take a lot of precautions and will have to be a bit side-on,” he says. “You can’t relax with this action. He is neither round-arm nor side-on. This forces him to bowl fast, else he’ll get hammered. That puts a lot of strain on the back.”
There is the likelihood BCCI, which feels it began giving Bumrah breaks a bit too late, will look to rest him more. But it could be hard. He has T20 commitments with Mumbai Indians; he played all 16 of MI matches last season. But shorter formats, particularly T20 cricket, can lead to faster bowlers breaking down.
“It is because you are dividing your four overs in one-, two-over spells. In longer formats, you bowl 6-7 overs at a stretch and your body is warmed up. In T20, it doesn’t happen that way. So you are always bowling without warming up,” explains Prabhakar. With Bumrah being a vital cog, his overs, like those of other top bowlers, are split into multiple spells often even in ODIs.
