One is a gangly 36-year-old left-arm workhorse who last played an One Day International in 2011 and was supposed to be enjoying the retired life. The other is a 22-year-old Gujarati who bowls medium pace with a freak action. The two make an odd couple, much unlike the other great fast bowling combinations that have graced cricket. And yet on Tuesday in their Asia Cup encounter against India in Mirpur, Sri Lanka underestimated both of them at their own peril and lost three early wickets, hastening their downfall.
But this was not a new occurrence. In fact, this has become the trend over the last nine Twenty20s the Indian team has played. Since Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah joined forces in Australia in January, they have been relentlessly striking early blows against their opponents.
India’s pace panacea
The statistics do not lie. The Bumrah-Nehra combination has taken 25 wickets in the last nine games at a bowling average of just over 17 and an economy rate of around 6.8. In tandem, the two have wrecked havoc in the early stages of the innings and in the process, provided the solution to one of India’s most pressing problems.
It was not too long ago that some of India’s other premier pace bowlers were being carted all over the park. India has had quite a few of them: Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Mohit Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar remain highly regarded. But the level of success that Nehra and Bumrah have enjoyed has been incredible.
The uniqueness of their partnership has been one of the highlights. Nehra was thought to be done and dusted and his call-up to the Indian Twenty20 team came in for much criticism. But since he made his comeback, there has been no looking back. In fact, he seems to be getting sharper with every match and invariably gets his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni the early wicket while keeping a strangehold on the scoring.
An unlikely champion
Bumrah has been the bigger revelation. He was not even in the original Twenty20 squad for the Australia series and was a late replacement for the injured Mohammad Shami. It is rare for any Indian pace bowler, let alone a young 22 year old, to find his bearings in international cricket from the start. But Bumrah has been an unqualified success. With his unique action, batsmen are hardly able to take a run off him and when they ultimately try to force the pace, they invariably perish. Sri Lanka found that out the hard way on Tuesday as Bumrah picked up two wickets against them.
The success of the pacers up front has played a big part in the fact that India are considered favourites for the upcoming World Twenty20. Before their arrival, the opposition would invariably tear into India’s pace attack which put additional pressure on the spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Now that India’s pace attack has proved its worth, Ashwin and Jadeja have more freedom to spin their respective webs. The result is a far more cohesive bowling unit which any team in the world will find difficult to put away.
With the win over Sri Lanka, India find themselves in the final and look good to win another Asia Cup title. The eyes are obviously on the bigger prize, the World T20 at home and with such a sparkling bowling combination up front, few would bet against them. Nehra and Bumrah may make for an unlikely couple but together they have struck gold.
Final Score: India (142/5 in 19.2 overs) beat Sri Lanka (138/9 in 20 overs) by five wickets
