Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Jasbirsingh Bumrah (Punjabi: [dʒəsˈpɾiːt̪ bʊmˈɾaː]; born 6 December 1993) is an Indian cricketer who plays for the India national team in all formats of the game and has captained India in Tests and T20Is. He is widely regarded as one of the world’s best active all-format pace bowlers, and one of the best fast bowlers ever. Bumrah plays for Gujarat in domestic cricket and for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. He is the first bowler to have achieved the number one ranking in the ICC men’s player rankings in all three formats of the game.
Among Indian fast bowlers, he took 200 wickets in the fewest matches and reached 100 wickets in ODI cricket in the second-shortest time, in terms of matches played. He was a crucial member of the Indian team that won the 2024 T20 World Cup, where he was named the Player of the Tournament for taking 15 wickets with an average economy of 4.17.
Jasprit Bumrah made his domestic debut in 2012–13 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and also helped his side clinch its maiden title victory. His first-class debut came against Vidarbha, during the 2013–14 season of the Ranji Trophy. Jasprit Bumrah was signed by the Mumbai Indians for the 2013 season of IPL.
Since then, he has played for MI, contributing to the team’s title wins five times. He is the highest wicket-taker for MI, with 181 wickets in 142 matches.
Jasprit Bumrah made his international debut in January 2016 during India’s tour of Australia, where he emerged as the highest wicket-taker of the T20 series. In 2016, he was the highest wicket-taker in a calendar year in T20I cricket, with 28 wickets. He made his Test debut in 2018 against South Africa.
Since December 2023, he has served as
He is the vice-captain of the Indian team in Test cricket and has also captained the team thrice in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma. He was named in the ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year in 2018 and 2024, in the ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year in 2017 and 2018, and in the ICC Men’s T20I Team of the Year in 2024.
Additionally, he was named in the ICC Men’s T20I Team of the Decade for 2011–2020. Bumrah was awarded the Polly Umrigar Award by the BCCI thrice, in 2018–19, 2021–22, and 2023–24. He was also named in the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2022. Notably, Jasprit Bumrah achieved a milestone in 2024 by surpassing Ravichandran Ashwin’s highest ICC Test bowling rating for an Indian bowler. Jasprit Bumrah concluded the year as the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket, with 71 wickets, and reached a career-high rating of 908 points, placing him joint-16th on the all-time list.
His performances, including a nine-wicket haul in the Melbourne Test in December 2024, secured his position as the top-ranked bowler in the ICC Men’s Test Rankings, and he was awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy and the ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year in the 2024 ICC Awards.
Early life
Jasprit Bumrah was born on 6 December 1993 into a Sikh Punjabi Ramgarhia family in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. His father, Jasbir Singh, ran a chemical business, while his mother, Daljeet Bumrah, worked as a school teacher. His father died due to hepatitis B when Bumrah was 5 years old. His mother raised him and his sister Juhika in a middle-class environment in Ahmedabad. Bumrah attended Nirman High School in Vastrapur, Ahmedabad, where his mother worked as the vice principal. He also played cricket for Nirman’s team.
Youth and domestic career
In 2010, Jasprit Bumrah appeared at the Gujarat Cricket Association’s Under-19 district selection trials. The selectors did not include him in the main squad of 15 due to his unconventional bowling action but named him as a reserve. After the district team won the first three matches, all three reserve players were given a chance in the fourth three-day match. Bumrah took seven wickets in that match.
Jasprit Bumrah made his Twenty20 (T20) debut for Gujarat against Maharashtra in the 2012–13 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and helped his side clinch the title with his Man of the Match performance in the final, with figures of 3/14 to beat Punjab. On 18 March 2013, during the match against Mumbai, former India coach John Wright, who was then the head coach of Mumbai Indians (MI) and scouting for the team at the time, was impressed by Bumrah’s performance and invited him to sign up for MI.
Jasprit Bumrah played first-class cricket for Gujarat and made his debut against Vidarbha in October 2013 during the 2013–14 season, where he took seven wickets for 89 runs. During the 2015–16 Vijay Hazare Trophy, after the first two matches, the umpires called him for throwing and raised objections about his bowling action. The issue was resolved when the team management protested against it. Gujarat won the trophy, with Bumrah taking a five-wicket haul in the final against Delhi. On 11 December 2020, he scored his maiden first-class half-century (55 not out) against Australia A during the India tour of Australia.
International career
2016–2017: International debut
Jasprit Bumrah made his ODI debut in January 2016 against Australia in the last match of the ODI series, where he took his first international wicket – that of Steve Smith – and finished with figures of 2/40. In the first match of the T20I series that followed, Bumrah made his debut, taking his maiden T20I wicket – that of David Warner – and finished with figures of 3/23. India won the T20I series and Bumrah was the highest wicket-taker on either side with six wickets. In February 2016, he took three wickets in the T20I series against Sri Lanka.
Jasprit Bumrah was named in India’s 15-man squad for the 2016 ICC World Twenty20. He took a wicket in every match of the tournament except against Bangladesh. In the semi-final against West Indies, he took the wicket of Chris Gayle while conceding 42 runs, with an economy rate of 10.50 runs per over. India lost the match, and Bumrah finished the tournament with four wickets at an average of 38.25 and an economy rate of 7.65.
In India’s tour of Zimbabwe in 2016, during the first match of the ODI series, Jasprit Bumrah, who was playing his second ODI game, took 4 wickets for 28 runs. He was the highest wicket-taker of the series with 9 wickets, including another four-wicket haul in the third match. During the T20I series, he was the second highest wicket-taker with five wickets, including a three-wicket haul in the second match.
In the two-match T20I series against West Indies in August 2016, Bumrah took his 28th wicket of the year, breaking Dirk Nannes’s record for most wickets in Twenty20 Internationals in a calendar year. In October 2016, when New Zealand toured India, Bumrah took six wickets in the ODI series at an average of 22.00..[36]
2018–2019: Test debut and World Cup
In November 2017, Jasprit Bumrah was named in India’s Test squad for their series against South Africa. He made his Test debut for India against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town on 5 January 2018 and took the wicket of AB de Villiers as his first Test wicket. In the third match of the series, at Johannesburg, Bumrah took his maiden five-wicket haul in Tests, with figures of 5/54 from 18.5 overs. South Africa won the series 2–1. Bumrah was the second highest wicket-taker for India behind teammate Mohammed Shami.
In June 2018, in the first match of India’s tour of Ireland, Bumrah fractured his left thumb while attempting a catch; the injury caused him to miss the remainder of the tour and the first two Test matches of the 2018 Pataudi Trophy. He returned for the third Test match at Trent Bridge, where he took his second five-wicket haul and finished with figures of 5/85 from 29 overs. He was the fifth leading wicket-taker of the series with 14 wickets from three matches, in a series where India faced a 4–1 defeat.
During the Boxing Day Test of India’s tour of Australia 2018, with career-best figures of 6/33, Jasprit Bumrah became the first Asian bowler to take five-wicket hauls in Australia, England, and South Africa in the same calendar year. India won the series 2–1, and Bumrah finished as the joint highest wicket-taker with 21 wickets, alongside Australian bowler Nathan Lyon. He concluded the year with 48 wickets, setting a record for an Indian bowler in his debut year in Test cricket. For his performances in 2018, he was named in both the World Test XI and ODI XI by the ICC.
Franchise career
During the 2013–14 season of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, John Wright, who was then the head coach of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians (MI) and scouting for the team at the time, was impressed by Bumrah’s performance and invited him to sign up for the franchise.
| Representing MI | ||
|---|---|---|
| Indian Premier League | ||
| Winner | 2013 | |
| Winner | 2015 | |
| Winner | 2017 | |
| Winner | 2019 | |
| Winner | 2020 | |
Jasprit Bumrah has played for the Mumbai Indians since 2013 IPL and helped the team win the title five times in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020. He has taken 170 wickets in 138 matches in the IPL, with an average of 22.78 and an economy rate of 7.32, making him the joint highest wicket-taker for the team with Lasith Malinga. He has two five-wicket and four-wicket hauls in the league.
Jasprit Bumrah made his IPL debut at the age of 19, where he concluded with figures of 3/32 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Despite Virat Kohli hitting him for three fours in his first four deliveries of the IPL, Bumrah managed to dismiss him on the fifth ball, with Kohli scoring 24 runs and Bumrah securing his maiden IPL wicket.
He was then benched for the remainder of the season and only played in the match against the Delhi Daredevils, where he did not take a wicket. Despite only playing two matches in the 2013 season, the Mumbai Indians retained him for the 2014 season. He went wicketless in his first two matches of the 2014 season.
However, in the match against RCB, he took two wickets for 22 runs at an economy rate of 5.50, including the wicket of AB de Villiers. It was his best bowling figures of the season. He played in 11 of Mumbai’s 15 matches and finished as the team’s fifth leading wicket-taker of the season, securing five wickets at an economy rate of 7.58 and an average of 60.20.
MI retained Jasprit Bumrah once again ahead of the 2015 Indian Premier League. Bumrah played in only four of MI’s sixteen matches and took three wickets at an economy rate of 12.26.
Bowling style
Jasprit Bumrah gained prominence with his unorthodox action and hyperextended elbows. His run-up is short, the first part of which consists of small, stuttering strides. He has an anomalous, stiff-armed action yet generates high pace, and his unusual point of release makes it difficult for batters to read his bowling. Accordingly, the Indian team often uses him in powerplay and death overs. He bowls outside the off-stump, yorkers, and short-length balls frequently. According to former international bowler Shoaib Akhtar, Bumrah’s bowling action has the potential to cause back injuries. Bumrah’s front-on bowling action means that bowlers like him generate speed primarily from their shoulders and back, increasing the risk of injury.
Bumrah targets the stumps more often than any other bowler who bowls at his pace, nearly 138 kilometres per hour (86 mph). He bowls nearly 43% of his deliveries on a good line and length. He has the highest average pace among bowlers who hit the good line and length at least as frequently. Additionally, he utilises lateral movement of the ball in his deliveries, capable of swinging it both ways and using reverse swing, especially in Indian conditions.
Bumrah’s hyper-extended right elbow allows him to release the ball from beyond the bowling crease, creating the illusion of increased speed by reducing the ball’s travel distance by nearly half a meter. This hyperextension also enables him to impart an extraordinary amount of backspin on the ball, which produces lift towards the batter.
His slower variation, the off cutter, has dismissed many batters over the years. Its effectiveness stems from his ability to reverse the lift by imparting enough revolutions on the ball in the opposite direction, causing the ball to dip which makes it land slightly earlier.
Another notable skill is his ability to hit various lengths without significantly altering his release point, making it difficult for batters to pick the length from his hand.
Additionally, his beyond-the-perpendicular release point allows him to angle the ball into right-handed batters and away from left-handers from over the wicket.
Public image
AccorAccording to Forbes India, in August 2023 Bumrah had around 25 million followers on social media, including over 10 million on Instagram, which is the highest social media following among bowlers in the world.
Financial advisory firm Kroll placed Bumrah in the top 45 most valued celebrities of the country, with an estimated brand value of ₹100 crore (equivalent to ₹106 crore or US$13 million in 2023) in the year 2022. He was the only bowler in the top 50. As of August 2023, he charges in the range of ₹1.5 to ₹2 crore a day for an endorsement. His brand value is estimated to increase by 25 to 30 per cent in the next 12 months. Forbes India included Bumrah in its Celebrity 100 list in the years 2018 and 2019.
Awards
Bumrah won the Polly Umrigar Award for best male cricketer for India thrice, in 2018–19, 2021–22, and 2023–24.
Additionally, he received the Dilip Sardesai Award for taking the highest number of wickets in Test cricket in 2018–19.
For his achievements during India’s tour of England in 2021, he was selected by Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in its 2022 edition.
Bumrah was conferred with The Times of India TOISA Cricketer of the Year award in 2021.
Honours
India
2024 Men’s T20 World Cup[205]
Asia Cup 2018 United Arab Emirates
Asia Cup 2016 Bangladesh
Asia Cup 2023 Pakistan
Asia Cup 2025 United Arab Emirates
Individual
ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year: 2024
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year): 2024
ICC Men’s Player of the Month: June 2024 & December 2024
Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2024
Notes
- Some sources list Bumrah as a fast-medium paced bowler
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