Jasprit Bumrah bends it in !PL 6

Trivedi gave the young boy one appraising look as he bowled in the nets.

IPL 6: It was six years ago when coach Kishore Trivedi of Nirman High School in Ahmedabad came across the lanky lad Jasprit Bumrah,who was keen to get into the school team. Seeing his keenness,Trivedi gave the young boy one appraising look as he bowled in the nets.

With a smallish run-up as prelude to a very unusual action,Bumrah,13 then,bowled with a pace that was tough to handle in his under 14 age category. The veteran coach who is well known medium-pacer Siddharth Trivedis father was impressed with the action which he dubbed weird nevertheless.

On Thursday,the 19-year-old with the mean inswinger coming from an unusual angle and a spangled hand movement,made an impressive IPL debut for the Mumbai Indians with figures of 3-32,and spiced up the encounter after being hit for three boundaries on a trot by RCB skipper Virat Kohli.

Open-chested when bowling and making minimal use of his non-leading left arm,Bumrah had also added to the variety in MIs bowling arsenal in Slinga Malingas absence,bowling alongside Mitchell Johnson.

While still in school,coach Trivedi had made Bumrah bowl to under-16 boys and was adjudjed unplayable there too.

On cements tracks,he was tough to handle and when he bowled on matting wickets,batsmen just couldnt play him. They feared facing him, recalls Trivedi. But there was a problem.

Bumrahs wrist used to bend a bit which mightve created problems in the future. His coach didnt change his action but made smaller adjustments. His run-up was increased by a few strides and Bumrah had to get the line right.

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There were many who felt that we should change his action but I was reluctant. He is a natural and there was no point in making drastic changes. It wouldve led him nowhere, Trivedi explains.

Soon Bumrah was picked for the Gujarat u-16 side and Jasprits mother Daljit,who happens to be the junior section principal at Nirman High School,still recalls the day when her son came home upset. He had taken seven wickets but still didnt find a place in the GCA U-19 side. I had told him to keep studies as a back-up because cricket was a risky sport to pick as profession. However,after few games he was recalled, Jasprit says. At the age of seven,Jasprit had lost his father but the young boy immersed himself into cricket to overcome the loss.

emphatic debut

So when Bumrah made an emphatic debut for Mumbai Indians which got even superstar Amitabh Bachchan praising him on Twitter,Trivedi wasnt surprised. After all the coach knew the boy had something special in him. With wickets of Virat Kohli,Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair,Bumrah finished three wickets more than anyone expected after his wayward deliveries were initially being punished by the Bangalore captain.

But the right armer got his revenge when he brought one in sharply and snuck past the closed face of Kohlis bat. He then rushed Agarwal into a cross-batted heave,while Nair too was trapped in front by another wicked incoming delivery.

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It was Mumbai Indians newly appointed head coach John Wright who had seen Jasprit during the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 zonal game in Ahmedabad,which meant the teenager would not watch IPL 6 from home.He bowled well against Mumbai and there Wright saw him. He is the kind of bowler whose deliveries often come in,and he is deceptive sometimes. Given right guidance he can improve more as a bowler, Trivedi says. The young boy is yet to to make his first class debut but has certainly taken the shortest possible route to success.