BOOM IN FULL BLOOM

Jasprit Bumrah is operating at a level we have rarely seen in cricket before

- ANIRUDH MADHAVAN

Five years ago, an IIT Kanpur professor decoded the science behind Jasprit Bumrah’s art. In a study he did on the bowler’s action, aerospace engineer Sanjay Mittal found that “Bumrah’s speed, seam position and rotational speed of 1,000rpm give only 0.1 spin ratio for the ball, hence putting it into reverse Magnus effect regime.”

I won’t even try to unpack that sentence, but it does signify that what Bumrah has been doing for years, and more specifically since his return from injury last year, is freakish enough to warrant deeper study by the world of science.

Now Bumrah himself might not understand the madness behind his method in scientific terms, but he did put on a display for the ages at this World Cup. In fact, were he an aspiring IIT student, professors like Mittal would have been proud of Bumrah’s physics, maths and chemistry at this tournament.

Let’s start with the physics. Through a quirk of his action, as Mittal explains in his study, Bumrah gets more dip on the ball. This simply means that the ball pitches before the spot the batter is expecting it to. This is just one of Bumrah’s weapons. Another is his ability to essentially bowl off spin at pace. His off-cutters spin a lot and batters generally don’t expect this from a fast bowler. See the dismissals of Travis Head and Phil Salt in this tournament.

Other bowlers could do this, too, but that is where accuracy comes in. Every bowler worth his salt knows where to pitch the ball. Actually doing it is the hard part. Bumrah has that down to a science. Physics, if you will.