Jasprit Bumrah a wizard at work

Jasprit Bumrah: The most perfect bowler of his generation, a weapon of destruction in cricket.

Like a stalled racehorse waiting for the gates to open, he waits for the batter to settle into his stance. The unconscious twitching of the shoulders already out of the way, he gathers himself for a microsecond, then sets off on a brisk walk with the ball held above his head in both hands. After a few quick steps, he gathers momentum, exploding at the bowling crease with a hyperextended right elbow, a braced left knee. The orb that leaves his hand is now a weapon of destruction. It could shape in in the air, break away on pitching and hit top of off, like Reeza Hendricks found out. It could defy physics and tail in late, as Marco Jansen discovered to his utter shock.

It can also begin way outside off and keep coming in, homing in on toes and stumps as if radar-directed. Skeptical? Ask Ollie Pope. And it can grip and turn, delivered with a slight tweak of the fingers, pace taken off, and sneak through the defences to rattle timber. Phil Salt will nod his head, in grudging acceptance.

Is there anything Jasprit Bumrah can’t do with the cricket ball? Maybe bowl left-arm wrist-spin, yes, for now. But with right arm and fingers and wrist, there’s nothing he can’t do. Not to the right-hander, not to the left-hander. Not with a new cherry, not with an old ball. Not in Test cricket, not in the limited-overs variants. Bumrah is the most perfect bowler of his generation, distinctly unique, incredibly skilled, and unbelievably hard-working.

Even with a team replete with some of the most aesthetically bruising stroke-makers in the business, Rohit Sharma was aware that India’s campaign at the T20 World Cup would hinge around how his principal hitman shaped up. He had a maximum of 24 deliveries at his disposal in each outing, but those four overs could often be the difference between victory and defeat. And while he was allowed only 24 legal deliveries, their impact was such that around his overs, other bowlers would benefit. Not least Arshdeep Singh, Bumrah’s new-ball partner and understudy, the joint leading wicket-taker of the tournament alongside Afghan Fazalhaq Farooqi, with 17 sticks.

Bumrah slotted in third in that chart, but he was the bowler of the tournament and, officially – as if confirmation was required – the Player of the Tournament. His 15 wickets came at an average of 8.26, a strike-rate of 11.86 and the fairly ridiculous economy of 4.17. He bowled 29.4 of a potential 32 overs in eight matches and conceded just 12 boundaries – 10 fours and two sixes – out of a total 124 runs scored off his bowling; 26% of those runs, stats reveal, were when the batters were not in control.

These are cold, bland, mundane numbers, but even they tell a tale in themselves. What they don’t elucidate is just how much having Bumrah in their ranks lifted India, how much it cowed oppositions down.

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