The Making Of The World's Best Bowler

After just one year as a Test cricketer, Jasprit Bumrah is being heralded as the best bowler in the world. But, to understand his success now, one has to trace his journey back to Ahmedabad. THE WEEK talks to his mother, friends and early coaches about the shy but determined boy who loved only cricket.

- Nandini Oza

In the mid-2000s, the Hindi soap opera Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin took India by storm. It was about a capable young woman, with an unconventional look, who lands a job at a leading fashion agency.

Though initially considered an outsider to the world of glitz, she breaks through with her determination and diligence. The show, a breath of fresh air on Hindi television, at least initially, ran for more than three years and amassed a huge following.

More than a decade later, another Jassi—Jasprit Bumrah—has become a household name. The 25-year-old pacer ran through the Australians in Melbourne, and has already pocketed quite a few records. In just one year of playing Tests, he has taken 48 wickets, and has left many a batsman sleepless.

Hopefully, his stay will last much longer than the onscreen Jassi.

The name aside, unconventionality connects the two. Jasprit’s bowling action—his non-bowling arm stays rigid, and does not move down as the other one goes up—is quite unorthodox. But Jassi, as friends and teammates call him, has made his action an asset. And, his consistent performances have put him on the list of dependable players along with captain Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara.

Though he had done quite well in South Africa and England in early 2018, it was his nine-wicket haul in the Boxing Day Test that propelled him to greater heights. The captain himself called him the best bowler in the world, and several experts had his name on their lips.