Bumrah’s journey to the day when the Gujarat selectors picked him for the 2013 Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament is as gripping as watching him make batsmen hop and fall.
Hailing from Ahmedabad, Bumrah played his gully cricket in the compound of Goyal Intercity — the apartment complex where he lived, while his mother tried to make ends meet after the early demise of his father.
(Photo: BCCI video grab)
Studying at the Nirman High School, Bumrah dreamt of making it big in cricket. But with not much headway, a disheartened Bumrah thought of leaving cricket in 2012 and moving to Canada.
But inclusion in the district team started a period that kept getting better. The tournament was a virtual trial for the state team. Bumrah got just one game, but it was enough for him to be among the wickets and eventually get into Gujarat’s state team.
Bumrah made his first class, List A and T20 debuts in 2013. But it was at the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament where he caught the eye of John Wright, who was scouting for young talent for the Indian Premier League franchise Mumbai Indians — the team that the New Zealander coached at that time.
(PTI Photo)
The same year, 2013, Bumrah, with his distinctive stiff-arm action, made his IPL debut as well. He took three wickets even as Chris Gayle was going berserk for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
It didn’t take Bumrah long to get noticed by the BCCI selectors, as his yorkers and death-overs bowling became the launchpad that earned him India call-up in less than three years from making his debut in the IPL.
His first match in the India jersey was an ODI against Australia in 2016. Within three days of that, he made his T20I debut as well. However, he had to wait for another two years before making his Test debut in 2018 against South Africa in Cape Town.
(AFP Photo)
The rest as they say is history and reflects in his consistency and tally of wickets. However, with a background of injuries and a brittle back over the years, his workload is now being managed carefully because only once in a generation you get a Jasprit Bumrah.
