India will be breathing a sigh of relief after the Visakhapatnam Test, and they have Jasprit Bumrah to thank for it. In a series that made noise before a ball was bowled about how much the pitches would aid the spinners, a pace bowler has turned out to be the point of difference.

The series scoreline is 1-1, but it’s not inconceivable that the hosts may have been staring at a 0-2 deficit had it not been for their pace spearhead’s interventions on Day 2 of the second Test. If England had got somewhere near India’s first-innings score, judging by how the game panned out subsequently, the home team may have feared the worst. The yorker from hell to first-Test centurion Ollie Pope will be replayed in highlight reels for years to come, while he has turned England’s best batsman Joe Root into something of a bunny. The slower ball to Ben Foakes in the second innings is also not something to be scoffed at.

The visitors’ aggressive approach – popularly called Bazball – may have had some effect on India’s vaunted spin attack, even on helpful pitches, but they are yet to find an antidote to Bumrah’s supreme skills. “Dunno” was England head coach Brendon McCullum’s succinct response when asked what they needed to do to counter the once-in-a-generation bowler.

While Bumrah’s prowess and versatility are a visual delight, he is making a pitch to be among the all-time greats statistically as well. No bowler who has 150 Test wickets or more in more than a century has a lower bowling average than Bumrah’s 20.19 from 34 matches.

The only contemporary pace bowlers who have compiled bodies of work that come anywhere close to the Indian spearhead are Australia’s Pat Cummins and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada. Those two stars have played a lot more Tests than Bumrah has but are vastly different in how they go about their work.

Comparing greats

Three tennis legends have dominated the game for the last two decades, and if Bumrah has to be compared to any one of them, it has to be Roger Federer for the versatility and magic he can produce in any situation. The Indian pacer may not be as easy on the eye in his movements and style as the Swiss maestro, but both of them can come up with something one can least expect, that can make jaws drop and eyes go wide. Bumrah revels in making the impossible commonplace.

For a country used to celebrating its batting superstars and wily spinners, it’s nothing less than a thrill to have a genuine speedster of their own who brings much more to the table than just pace across formats and conditions.

Taking the tennis analogy further, Cummins has some of the attributes of Novak Djokovic, as their sheer relentlessness is a common feature. When he is at his best, it’s almost impossible to hit a ball past the Serb, and this quality puts such pressure on his opponent that he is, more often than not, forced into an error. The Aussie quick’s adherence to a probing line and length and ability to ask tough questions on every delivery doesn’t give a batsman any peace.

As far as Rabada is concerned, he often turns into an unstoppable force if the surface or conditions are to his liking, much like Rafael Nadal.

However, both Australia and South Africa have enviable traditions in pace bowling, which can’t be said about India, at least not till a decade ago. It makes Bumrah’s emergence all the more significant as he had hardly any home-grown idols to emulate. It also makes him much his own man. The staccato run-up, the almost-stiff load-up, and the hyperextended joints are all unique attributes. It makes him prone to injury, and the back problem that kept him out of action for a year before his latest comeback was career-threatening.

Talent and ingenuity

But it also shows how strong his mind is, as he has come back arguably a better bowler than he ever was. The way he plots the downfall of batsmen will make any chess Grandmaster proud. It definitely helps that he is equally adept with the new ball and old and can bowl any type of delivery without a discernible change in action. It has forced even the all-out-attack proponents in the England team to take utmost care while dealing with Bumrah while focusing their aggression more on the spinners, a proposition almost unthinkable in Indian conditions.

And all that Bumrah has done in the two Tests against England has been achieved without any pace-bowling support from the other end. Mohammed Siraj didn’t have much to do in Hyderabad while Mukesh Kumar was so ineffective at Visakhapatnam that the England batsmen must have been waiting for him to come into the attack.

It put a lot of bowling load on Bumrah and considering that he has returned from a very serious injury not too long ago, his workload needs to be carefully managed, as big assignments are coming up one after another.

However, the state of the series and the impact Bumrah has had in it will be taken into consideration. If speculation about a rank turner for the third Test in Rajkot is correct, the team management and selectors may be tempted to rest Bumrah there. But, there is a sizable gap before that game and the quality performer that Bumrah is, he is never dependent on conditions to excel.

The decision-makers are likely to want him for the fifth Test in Dharamsala, especially if the series is undecided till then, as the cooler climes may offer him more encouragement.

All these factors only prove how vital Bumrah is to Indian prospects in every situation.