Legendary India captain Kapil Dev has raised the big question whether Jasprit Bumrah’s unorthodox bowling action will be sustainable for 10-12 years.
Bumrah is often regarded as the best all-format bowler in modern-day cricket with his effectiveness with white and red balls. His unorthodox action and short run-up also made life difficult for the batters, who found it tough to judge his length and pace early in the innings. Despite his recent fitness concerns, he still remains the most lethal bowler in world cricket and holds the top spot in the ICC rankings for Test bowlers.
Bumrah, who first donned the India jersey in 2016, has seen his career frequently disrupted by recurring injuries, prompting the BCCI to manage his workload quite carefully at this stage. The premier pacer has missed big ICC events like the 2022 T20 World Cup, 2023 WTC Final, and 2025 Champions Trophy due to injuries.
Meanwhile, Kapil discussed Bumrah’s bowling action in detail, emphasising how it made life difficult for the batters.
“There are two things that always come out. Any bowler in the world with an awkward action takes that much difficult time for a batter to pick the ball like Malinga. Those types of bowlers we don’t practice in the nets, and suddenly out of the blue, somebody comes with a different action, a difficult action, that fraction of a second, if you can’t pick what he’s trying to do, that is good enough for a bowler,” Kapil said on ‘The Squirrels’ YouTube channel.
The 31-year-old recently missed two crucial Tests on the England tour due to workload management, which put him under the scanner for picking and choosing the matches. Several former cricketers, including Irfan Pathan and Mohammad Azharuddin, have blasted him for not playing all five Tests and pick-and-choose on an important tour.
‘Can Bumrah sustain for a period of 10 or 12 years’
However, the legendary 1983 World Cup-winning skipper expressed doubts over whether Bumrah’s bowling action would allow him to sustain a long career.
“So, Bumrah has become very good because nobody could imagine from a batsman’s point of view that in such a short run up, he can generate such big pace. His action is not like an athlete’s action; that’s why Bumrah can be devastating for the opposition. But can he sustain that for a period of 10 or 12 years, which, as a cricketer, we feel is difficult,” he added.