Another phrase you might hear to describe a bowler is “beyond the perpendicular”. Again, using the clock face, a bowler with an over-the-top action would, from behind, have it pointing to the number 12, directly above their head. A bowler with a round arm would be at one or two.
If a bowler goes beyond the perpendicular, they are coming from the number 11, meaning the angle always feels like it is coming in to a right-hander, making them play at deliveries they might not need to.
One example of this would be the success Bumrah has had against Joe Root, dismissing him 10 times in Test cricket – only Australia’s Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have got Root more.
Bumrah makes Root push at balls wide of off stump, just like the first innings of this Test, angled in and moving away at the last second once he has opted to play at the ball, continuing in a similar vein to their duels in 2021.
Outside of the technical elements of Bumrah’s bowling action, I don’t think there has been a fast bowler in history able to affect matches so consistently.
He is like a computer constantly calibrating what is needed in any given situation, and he is able to implement almost exactly what he wants to with absolute precision.
Consider this for versatility. Of pace bowlers from major nations to have sent down at least 500 deliveries in T20 internationals, Bumrah’s economy rate of 6.27 is the best. At the same time, Bumrah has comfortably the best bowling average of any bowler in Test history with at least 200 wickets. At 19.33, Bumrah is miles ahead of West Indies legend Malcom Marshall in second place on 20.94.
Taking it a stage further, the only bowlers with more than 100 wickets at a lower average than Bumrah all played before World War I.
In a climate where the disparity between the Test and T20 formats for bowlers is becoming wider and requiring a differing range of skills, Bumrah is the best in both.
Bumrah is a thinker about the game and would have been India’s first choice as the new Test captain has it not been for his struggle to play in every match. He took the decision himself to not pursue the job as he did not feel it was fair on the team.
We’re lucky to be in an era of great fast bowlers. From recent international retirees Stuart Broad and James Anderson, to Kagiso Rabada, Cummins, Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.
Bumrah sits atop of them all as the finest fast bowler to have played the game. Some accolade.
