He was returning to international cricket after almost 11 months. How long would it take for him to get a wicket? Jasprit Bumrah needed just two deliveries to answer that.
Was this a dream comeback? Bumrah took three more balls for a second wicket in his first over. He was back after an agonising period of getting injured, and being declared fit and unfit, before undergoing a long process of treatment and recovery.
The conditions were favourable, and both dismissals had an amount of luck if you were a fast bowler. Andy Balbirnie played away from the body with a highway between bat and pad, and an inside edge did the rest. Lorcan Tucker committed the sin of trying to scoop before getting his eye in.
Even though it was a T20I against Ireland, in that opening over and three more after that, Bumrah answered a few questions the nation was waiting for. Would he be able to lead the attack in the 50-over World Cup? That can’t be said right now. Did he look good enough in his comeback match? Certainly.
The answer India actually wants lies somewhere in between, but there were indications that its main bowler was eager and hungry to get going again. Bumrah was slower than usual to start with, looked a bit rusty while fielding, did not psyche batters out or land yorkers with clockwork regularity.
This can be understood. Any fast bowler making a comeback will be tentative and reluctant to bowl flat out from the word go. In Bumrah’s case, he might have been anxious too, because his history of fitness issues. A damp outfield could have made things uncomfortable on the run-up as well.
Also Read: Jasprit Bumrah reveals recovery process aimed towards ODI World Cup
Bumrah didn’t seem in any discomfort though. The run-up short as always, the trademark action intact and smooth release of the ball with late wrist work — he looked the bowler India fans wanted back. The bowling was expectedly not as incisive as it had been, but there was no spraying the ball around either.
The pace increased in the second spell and his last over ended with the promise that the 29-year-old is not far from his best. There were no yorkers that used to hit the stumps or the toes of the batters. But that was one over where the batter found it difficult to make contact with the ball.
There was a slower one delivered from wide of the crease that did not come in with the angle and went straight outside off, beyond the batter’s reach. There was a yorker outside off, followed by a straighter one held slightly back which came in. The 19th over of the innings produced a solitary run.
That was the Bumrah India wanted to see. He was not just bowling good deliveries. He was thinking what to bowl, and outthinking the batter in the process. Intelligence is one of his less spoken about traits, and it was there on display in Dublin. There were 16 dot balls in figures of 4-0-24-2.
Does that mean Bumrah is fit? Yes. Is he going to reduce India’s bowling headaches at the World Cup? Too early to say. There is a lot of cricket to be played on the harder grounds of Sri Lanka and India before that. He has to bowl 10 overs, not four. The body will face a rigorous test all over again.
But that last over and the smile on his face after getting the little things right suggested Bumrah was enjoying himself again. If everything goes well, he should peak in time for the big event. But since it’s him, with a patched-up body and lots of workload in places warmer than Ireland, the fingers should stay crossed.
Also Read: India win rain-marred enouncter; Bumrah takes two wickets on his return