Opinion: Why Jasprit Bumrah’s recent form could hurt India in the World T20

It's not too often you see this Indian team under the captaincy of Virat Kohli get whitewashed convincingly. That happened in their recent ODI series against New Zealand that they lost 0-3. The primary reasons for that was the ineffectiveness of key players Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah. Far too much was expected from them with Rohit Sharma being injured and with a very inexperienced bowling attack apart from Bumrah.

Most of all, the visitors were hurt by their strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah going wicketless. India have become so used to Bumrah providing regular breakthroughs the captain heavily depended on him for wickets. When they didn’t come, it proved disastrous for India. Bumrah was economical but not penetrative. He could have been trying too hard or was undercooked after the long break due to back injury.

India have been far too dependent on Jasprit Bumrah to strike in LOIs off late, and that might hurt them.

Kohli admitted it hurt India. “With the ball, we were not able to make breakthroughs; we were not at all good on the field. We haven’t played so badly but when you don’t grab those chances, you don’t deserve to win,” he said.

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Former India pacer Madan Lal said to a leading newspaper that it was tough to pinpoint the reason for Bumrah’s barren run, but said trying too hard can be counter-productive. “When you are not getting wickets, you try harder and harder; it’s important to focus on doing the basics well,” said the head of the new Cricket Advisory Committee that will meet this week to pick a fresh selection committee.

Bumrah wasn't helped by the other seamers like Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur going for plenty of runs in the ODIs. Saini was able to rein in batsmen in the death overs but that can't be said about Thakur and the spinners, especially Kuldeep Yadav. The lack of a bowling all-rounder was clearly visible in how the team performed.

India’s strongest pillars in their quest to winning the ICC World T20 again since 2007 are their top three batsmen’s form- Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. While KL and Rohit made significant contributions in the T20Is and ODIs, the captain King Kohli had a very ordinary tour of New Zealand so far proving be ineffective. Another key weapon they have used very well for their success is Jasprit Bumrah’s four overs.

Bumrah returned to the T20I squad after an injury lay-off and hasn’t been at his world beating standards ever since; although couple of matches in the T20I series that India ended up winning 5-0 can be single-handedly attributed to Bumrah putting the breaks on the opposition. He may not got the bulk of the wickets but him being there allowed the likes of Mohammed Shami, Thakur and Saini to do their bit. But there is an overwhelming dependency on Bumrah to perform always that needs to be addressed really quick.

Many feel that India and Virat Kohli are too dependent on their main strike bowler and the other bowlers seem or look inadequate when their leader doesn’t perform to standards that he has set. So when the likes of Thakur, Shami, Jadeja and Saini were expected to carry the load of getting the wickets they faltered and India lost the ODI series 0-3 and their strike bowler went wicketless right through.

Is this just a bowler finding his way back after a prolonged injury break? Or have oppositions found a way to counter India’s main weapon keeping in mind the conditions they will get in the ICC World T20 at Australia later on this year. Virat Kohli will hope it’s the former and that Jasprit Bumrah gets his mojo back.

This quote from Ashish Nehra aptly sums up the current scenario,” You can't expect Bumrah to deliver in every series. One has to remember he is returning from injury. Its difficult for anybody to keep performing at the top of his game all the time. Even Virat Kohli had a tough series".

It's a team game

India might need Hardik more than they imagine in the T20 World Cup.

India’s team is undoubtedly the favorites to win the T20 World Cup this time, but the support cast need to lend a helping hand too as you can’t expect the lead actor to take the burden of the team’s performance all the time. Hopefully the injured Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar coming into the squad soon can stabilize things and it would also some pressure on Bumrah who, despite having a fine T20I series against the Kiwis, is being questioned for his inability to take wickets on a consistent basis.

India and their fans would hope that this recent lull in form is just a passing phase and that they will see the likes of Kohli, Bumrah and Rohit Sharma dominate the ICC World T20. With the likes of KL Rahul doing so well of late, it would give India immense confidence and optimism heading into the tournament.

All eyes will probably be on the IPL 2020 now to see how each player of this team perform for their franchises and more importantly how they hold up on the injury front, as you don't want players getting injured in the cash-rich league that would rule them out of the ICC World T20 coming up later on in the year.

India need to have more wicket-taking options handy in Bumrah has an off day.