Jasprit Bumrah and the pathos of his greatness

“He is the greatest.”

Ollie Pope was still looking back at his disturbed stumps in Visakhapatnam in 2024 when the words escaped the onlookers, who were caught somewhere between disbelief and admiration. The ball jagged back late, wrong-footing the batter before crashing into the middle stump. Pope had already begun the guessing game everyone eventually finds themselves playing against Jasprit Bumrah. His action disguises the ball for just that fraction longer, leaving batters committed before it moves late off the seam. By the time Pope realised where it was headed, it was already too late. Those watching abandoned analysis altogether. Superlatives poured out because, let's be honest, what a ball.

Every great Bumrah spell seems to leave something behind. Sometimes it is awe at what he does, almost always under pressure. Sometimes it is simply an image that refuses to leave cricket's collective memory. If you have ever had the privilege of watching him bowl, you will know that there is a peculiar silence before Bumrah begins his staccato run-up. The stadium, where drums beat and chants roll down from the stands, seems to pause for a moment. Every eye is fixed on the ball resting in his hyperextended right arm, waiting for the familiar sling that has undone the world's best. Sometimes nothing happens. Six dots. A play and a miss. A thick inside edge.

But sometimes everything does. A stump cartwheels, a finger goes up, a crowd erupts, and a match changes course. Somewhere along the way, without us noticing, watching Bumrah became an event.

That feeling has defined some of India's biggest triumphs. In the T20 World Cup final in Barbados, South Africa needed only 30 from 30 balls with six wickets in hand as the trophy appeared to be slipping away again. But Bumrah had two overs up his sleeve, which went for six runs and a wicket as the pressure piled back on. Two years later, in another World Cup knockout, England searched desperately for a releaseafter another suffocating Bumrah spell. They found none. Forced into attacking Hardik Pandya instead, they gifted India another breakthrough. Nasser Hussain captured Bumrah's influence perfectly: the price of his excellence is that batters feel compelled to take risks against everyone else.

That is what separates Bumrah from almost every fast bowler of his era. His skills have never been limited to the wickets he takes. They lie equally in the shots he prevents, the panic he creates and the decisions he forces.

The stats back up his legacy: He has 234 wickets in 52 Tests at 19.79, the only one with a sub-20 average among bowlers with 200 Test wickets. In ODIs, he has 151 at 23.74, and his economy rate of 6.51 in T20Is, the best among all Full Member pacers (min. 50 wickets), confirms his all-format dominance. With each format placing vastly different demands on bowlers, very few have managed to master all three. But as much as we want to watch more of him, the reality is that our time with Bumrah is slipping away.

Injured and missing the upcoming Tests against Sri Lanka, Bumrah has featured in only 36 of India's 105 bilateral internationals since the end of the 2023 ODI World Cup, just 34 per cent. He has played a handful of series, but rarely every game. On the other hand, he has featured in 21 of India's 29 ICC tournament matches during that period, missing only the Champions Trophy through injury. The thinking has been simple: preserve him for marquee tournaments and major overseas Test tours, trying to ensure he is available when the biggest moments arrive.

So, right now, what does his future look like? India will try to keep him fresh for the 2027 ODI World Cup, further reducing the cricket he plays elsewhere. The focus will then shift to the 2028 T20 World Cup, and the approach to managing his workload will remain much the same. At 32, he still has age on his side. But India will do well not to push it, resting him for bilaterals of little consequence, as they are doing now. Whenever he plays, it will be well-thought out after careful consultations with the physios, remaining the first name on the team sheet despite playing considerably less cricket.

But there is something quietly heartbreaking about that strategy, even if it is unquestionably the right one.

Not because Bumrah is any less great than the game's immortals, but because cricket has traditionally measured greatness through sustenance as much as excellence. The legendary fast bowlers played across decades, topped the wickets charts and stood out for their longevity. Bumrah's career will never resemble theirs, but perhaps that says more about how cricket has changed than it does about Bumrah himself.

Fast bowling has never demanded more than it does today. Three international formats, franchise commitments across continents, relentless travel and shrinking recovery windows have created careers that bear little resemblance to those of previous generations. The next generation's greatest fast bowlers will not play as much international cricket either. Workload management will become as defining a part of a career as outswing, reverse swing or the yorker. Teams will increasingly choose to preserve brilliance rather than maximise appearances, and over time, the definition of greatness may have to evolve too.

And there's a pathos in that, because fast bowling remains one of cricket's greatest spectacles. Part of the joy lies in following bowlers who leave you spellbound every time they have the ball in hand. The expectation as they start running in, the amazement on another world-class batter's face, and the certainty that, for the next few overs, batting would be the hardest thing in the world.

Watching them play will also leave you with a lingering thought of what another thirty or forty Tests, ODIs or T20Is might have looked like, of how many more magical mornings and impossible spells we might have witnessed.

But perhaps that will be the wrong question to ask going forward because their legacy will stop being defined by how much they played, and more by the impact they made whenever they did.

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