2018 turned out to be the year when the world woke up to Jasprit Bumrah. He burst on the scene in T20 cricket but was running the risk of being boxed in as a limited overs bowler. That was until he was included in the Indian Test team for the South Africa tour and since then he has cemented his position in the squad. This came to a crescendo in India’s series win in Australia when he was being hailed as the best pacer in the world across formats by commentators and experts.
Bumrah’s unique bowling action and his ability to bowl yorkers at will have been his trademark thus far in his career. The 25-year-old said that his expertise of the delivery comes from the fact that he used to play a lot of tennis ball cricket in his childhood.
“With the tennis ball, you can bowl only one kind of a delivery. There’s the length in question, no bouncers. There’s only one ball that you have to practise,” Bumrah said in an interview with Times of India.
“At that time, I played for fun. But later, when you start playing serious cricket, you realise the importance of that delivery,” he said.