More than other bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah understands when to deploy variations. Ian Bishop

Ian Bishop praised Jasprit Bumrah profusely for his ability to know when to employ his variations. With three wickets in three matches, the renowned Indian pacer has been in incredible form for the current T20 World Cup 2024.

Following a back ailment, Bumrah was unable to participate in the 2022 T20 World Cup. India suffered a great loss in the semifinals when they were eliminated by eventual winners England without his services. This year, Bumrah is participating in the T20 World Cup once again and is excelling in advantageous circumstances.

Bumrah has taken five wickets at an incredible average of nine, and his economy rate is a pitiful 4.09. In India’s opening two matches, against Pakistan and Ireland, the 30-year-old was named Player of the Match.

Pakistan needed just 40 off 36 balls to win the match, which put India in a difficult situation. Bumrah, nevertheless, opened the game by dismissing a set Mohammad Rizwan. To tip the scales in favour of the Men in Blue, the Ahmedabad native removed Iftikhar Ahmed with the last ball of the penultimate over.

“Jasprit Bumrah is a thoughtful player who is intelligent and an effective communicator. It starts with the basics, but he’s also developed variations, and he understands when to utilise them better than other bowlers,” ESPNcricinfo cited Bishop as saying.

He says, “It’s not every day that I go seeking for wickets; some days I bowl my yorker at the stumps, some days I bowl a wide yorker; on some days, I judge the situation and deploy my bouncer or my slower ball into the pitch. He also has additional substances in addition to that,” he said.

For the most part, Bishop observed, batters don’t try to take Jasprit Bumrah deep because of his abilities and the reputation he has earned over the years.

“The full toss [that got Iftikhar, for example] was due to his special action, which causes the ball to get on you much quicker than batters anticipate. They sometimes get on to you and don’t get shattered. Naturally, once you establish such a reputation… Because of Curtly Ambrose’s reputation, Matthew Hayden would always want to smash me even though he would never make a mistake against him when we bowled together. The cricketer who is now a broadcaster declared, “This guy is a generational bowler.”