Bumrah in 2018-19 vs Bumrah now

[lamellavig]

In 2018-19, Bumrah was a true-blue hit the deck bowler. He didn't swing the ball. He didn't bowl yorkers. He just repeatedly bowled the hard length. 

 

Decline hit Bumrah after the WI test injury in 2019. When he came back in 2020, he tried to replicate the same approach of 2019, but suddenly the ball wasn't rising. The zip wasn't there. He wasn't bowling the heavy ball.

 

After failing in 2021 WTC final, Bumrah adapted, now bowling full regularly, looking for swing, bowling yorkers. And refusing to bowl the hard length as though he is a princess.

But adaptation costs you. Sometimes adaptation is for improvement, but in this case the adaptation was to accept mediocrity.

 

During 2018-19, Bumrah wasn't even Indian. He was a black man, like Jofra Archer. But following the 2019 WI injury (which occured because he did not warm up in the preceding Twenty20s), Bumrah suddenly transformed from a black athlete to a stereotypical Indian nerd. 

[MechEng]

Yeah, I saw Bumrah drinking Hennessy with a voluptuous black lady twerking on him at a private Dubai party in 2018 (before he met Sanjana).

 

You dont need to be a hit the deck bowler to do well. Malcolm Marshall was skiddy in his entire career, so were Steyn and Waqar.

[Lord]

During that phase we played lot in Aus/SA

 

It is not possible for short bowler to get that bounce in India

[rkt.india]

30 minutes ago, Lord said:

During that phase we played lot in Aus/SA

 

It is not possible for short bowler to get that bounce in India

Yes, useless comparisons. They expect him to take fifers every match. One of the greatest fast bowler Malcolm marshall picked 22 fifers in 81 tests, fifer every 3.68 tests. Bumrah has 16 in just 51 tests, one fifer every 3.18 tests. Last game, he picked a fifer. Batsmen couldn't chase 124.

[vvvslaxman]

Bumrah bowled beautifully in this match. Unlucky not to get a wicket.  Had Kela pouched that catch he would have been on a roll. Even in the 2nd innings Kela dropped a catch of Bumrah. Same Markram.

[nitinbwj]

1 hour ago, vvvslaxman said:

Bumrah bowled beautifully in this match. Unlucky not to get a wicket.  Had Kela pouched that catch he would have been on a roll. Even in the 2nd innings Kela dropped a catch of Bumrah. Same Markram.

His speed had dropped though. Rarely bowls a 140+ over.

[vvvslaxman]

5 minutes ago, nitinbwj said:

His speed had dropped though. Rarely bowls a 140+ over.

His 140 is faster than other 140s due to late release.  Last 2 or 3 months his problem was accuracy. He went too much of pole hunting straying down the leg very often. Also his street smartness was missing too. In this match we could see shades of him coming back. But for heavensake these freaking idiots have to stop dropping catches of Bumrah's bowling. Even in world cup final 2023 first ball Kohli dropped a catch.

[Nikhil_cric]

6 hours ago, MechEng said:

Yeah, I saw Bumrah drinking Hennessy with a voluptuous black lady twerking on him at a private Dubai party in 2018 (before he met Sanjana).

 

You dont need to be a hit the deck bowler to do well. Malcolm Marshall was skiddy in his entire career, so were Steyn and Waqar.

Malcolm Marshall bowled in a very different era and used to reverse the ball a lot and also benefited from having Garner/Ambrose  at the other end to push the batsman back. 

[MechEng]

2 hours ago, Nikhil_cric said:

Malcolm Marshall bowled in a very different era and used to reverse the ball a lot and also benefited from having Garner/Ambrose  at the other end to push the batsman back. 

 

Bumrah also reverses the ball.

[putrevus]

9 hours ago, rkt.india said:

Yes, useless comparisons. They expect him to take fifers every match. One of the greatest fast bowler Malcolm marshall picked 22 fifers in 81 tests, fifer every 3.68 tests. Bumrah has 16 in just 51 tests, one fifer every 3.18 tests. Last game, he picked a fifer. Batsmen couldn't chase 124.

Wrong comparison without knowing anything about WI cricket.

 

WI had 4 truely great fast bowlers when Marshall was part of WI . There were not enough wickets to get 5fers for everyone.

 

 

Bumrah on other hand has no competition just like Murali. You think Murali was so much better than Warne to get 67 fifers.

 

Bumrah still is a great bowler. He has lot of limitations mainly due to his inability to handle big moments.

 

Edited November 25, 2025 by putrevus

[express bowling]

10 hours ago, nitinbwj said:

His speed had dropped though. Rarely bowls a 140+ over.

 

Even in this test 1st innings, Bumrah has bowled atleast 10 overs with atleast 4 balls at 140 k+. Fastest of 146 kph.

[express bowling]

12 hours ago, rkt.india said:

One of the greatest fast bowler Malcolm marshall picked 22 fifers in 81 tests, fifer every 3.68 tests. Bumrah has 16 in just 51 tests, one fifer every 3.18 tests. 

 

Overall stats don't always paint the full picture. 

 

Look at Travis Head. Test average of just 42.   Has only 10 centuries after 61 tests. No double hundreds. But come big matches and he delivers.

 

Bumrah played a huge role in our overseas test success in the 2018 to 2021 period. Two test series wins in Australia 2018-19 and 2020-21 and leading 2-1 in Eng 2021. None of them would have been possible without Bumrah's dominant role. He always rose to the occasion in tests till 2021 except WTC Final 21 when he was coming back after his honeymoon. 

 

But starting 2022 he started to find it difficult on flat surfaces. In the last 24 months or so, he has become a better bowler if the ball is moving. But often gives up in flat conditions. One or two great innings in a test series and then he goes missing for the rest of the series.

 

Bumrah created amazing impact in T20 WC 2024. But the same hasn't happened in the test series vs NZ 24, Australia 24 and SA 25. He was good in England 25 till he got injured. 

 

You don't have to take a fifer every test. But a couple of big wickets at key moments often add to the impact. Bumrah needs to stop giving up if the ball is not moving. He did not do this in the 2017 to 2021 period. 

Edited November 25, 2025 by express bowling

[vvvslaxman]

2 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

Overall stats don't always paint the full picture. 

 

Look at Travis Head. Test average of just 42.   Has only 10 centuries after 61 tests. No double hundreds. But come big matches and he delivers.

 

Bumrah played a huge role in our overseas test success in the 2018 to 2021 period. Two test series wins in Australia 2018-19 and 2020-21 and leading 2-1 in Eng 2021. None of them would have been possible without Bumrah's dominant role. He always rose to the occasion in tests till 2021 except WTC Final 21 when he was coming back after his honeymoon. 

 

But starting 2022 he started to find it difficult on flat surfaces. In the last 24 months or so, he has become a better bowler if the ball is moving. But often gives up in flat conditions. One or two great innings in a test series and then he goes missing for the rest of the series.

 

Bumrah created amazing impact in T20 WC 2024. But the same hasn't happened in the test series vs NZ 24, Australia 24 and SA 25. He was good in England 25 till he got injured. 

 

You don't have to take a fifer every test. But a couple of big wickets at key moments often add to the impact. Bumrah needs to stop giving up if the ball is not moving. He did not do this in the 2017 to 2021 period. 

 

Loss of Shami, Umesh, Ishant one by one is getting to him. India was viewed as a unit each bringing different aspect to the game. Now he is just left with "moody" Siraj.

[putrevus]

16 hours ago, lamellavig said:

In 2018-19, Bumrah was a true-blue hit the deck bowler. He didn't swing the ball. He didn't bowl yorkers. He just repeatedly bowled the hard length. 

 

Decline hit Bumrah after the WI test injury in 2019. When he came back in 2020, he tried to replicate the same approach of 2019, but suddenly the ball wasn't rising. The zip wasn't there. He wasn't bowling the heavy ball.

 

After failing in 2021 WTC final, Bumrah adapted, now bowling full regularly, looking for swing, bowling yorkers. And refusing to bowl the hard length as though he is a princess.

But adaptation costs you. Sometimes adaptation is for improvement, but in this case the adaptation was to accept mediocrity.

 

During 2018-19, Bumrah wasn't even Indian. He was a black man, like Jofra Archer. But following the 2019 WI injury (which occured because he did not warm up in the preceding Twenty20s), Bumrah suddenly transformed from a black athlete to a stereotypical Indian nerd. 

Bumrah then had Shami and Ishant to share wickets..His load was less but he was more effective now his load is more but he is less effective.

 

He has taken 8 5fers in 2024 and 2025.He had same 8 5fers in six years before 2024.Now he has guys like Akashdeep, Prasidh and Harshit as partners.

 

Siraj is non entity when he bowls in tandem with Bumrah for some reason.

Edited November 25, 2025 by putrevus

[BacktoCricaddict]

15 hours ago, MechEng said:

Yeah, I saw Bumrah drinking Hennessy with a voluptuous black lady twerking on him at a private Dubai party in 2018 (before he met Sanjana).

 

You dont need to be a hit the deck bowler to do well. Malcolm Marshall was skiddy in his entire career, so were Steyn and Waqar.

What we need is variety. If we have 2 fast bowlers, one should be hit-the-hard-length and the other be the swing/fuller-length guy. I hate to say this but Bumrah and Rana/Krishna may have been a good combo for this pitch. But then again, if the batters don't deliver even 250, it means very little.

[maniac]

Look at the team around him too. Most matches are screwed up by batsmen.Bumrah is still performing above and beyond. No one can get a 5fr every match especially fast bowlers

[lamellavig]

2 minutes ago, maniac said:

Look at the team around him too. Most matches are screwed up by batsmen.Bumrah is still performing above and beyond. No one can get a 5fr every match especially fast bowlers

He is now a useless Indian nerd. I don't care how many wickets he takes when he can't even hit the deck hard or intimidate a batsman. 

[Nikola]

Just revisited 2018/19 BGT to check how good peak Bumrah was, and this was one of the random overs I saw (3rd Test, Day 2, Session 3)

 

His slowest ball in this over was 143.6 kph, which isn't included in screenshot.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2025 by Nikola

[Nikhil_cric]

17 hours ago, MechEng said:

 

Bumrah also reverses the ball.

Not the same thing with all the extra scrutiny on tampering

[singhvivek141]

Bumrah is playing the dual role of striker plus the workhorse, hence he can't afford to give runs but has to take wickets. Situation has worsened post Shami's exclusion and Siraj isn;t even have 50% capability of Shami. Heck, I would say Siraj is even less capable than Umesh. Luckily for Siraj and unluckily for Umesh...there is no proper 3rd seamer in the Indian team, while when Umesh was in the mix...he was always the third or 4th seamer due to presence of Shami, Ishant, Bhoobi and later Bumrah.
 

Bumrah also has to keep himself fit enough to bowl x,y,z amount of overs. His statement in the 5th test of BGT clarifies when he said "ab zor nahi lag raha"....there is only a limit which you can stretch yourself without support from other end. This is the same problem which Srinath faced for most of his career. Hence Bumrah has to stop being adventurous and stick to the tried and tested length bowl formula to conserve his energy.

With his growing age, his energy levels will go down. He would need another young enforcer who can be as hostile as he used to be. Siraj too is getting slower with each passing day.