Unsurprisingly, leading the purple cap race (stats taken after RCB vs GT) with 14 wickets from 9 matches is Jasprit Bumrah, the spearhead leader of the Mumbai Indians attack. Even though years have passed since his debut, most batsmen still can’t decipher the mystery of Bumrah, and with the high variety that he has up his sleeve, it tracks. As per usual, he is having yet another great season, for a variety of reasons.
Impeccable economy
While it is highly impressive that Jasprit Bumrah finds himself at the top of the wicket-takers list, there isn’t a lack of competition among the other wicket-takers, and he is and could be dethroned by the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel amidst others. But when you look at the list for the purple cap, one dizzying fact stands out his economy. While most bowlers find themselves close to an economy rate of 8 and above, Bumrah has a staggeringly low economy of 6.64. While generally, this would mean the other bowlers have been leaking runs, this IPL has been an absolute run-fest, one which hasn’t been witnessed before, and an economy close to 8 now must be seen as an asset, which makes Bumrah so much more impressive.
One might also think the others have been bowling at the death, and while this is true, so does Bumrah! Bumrah is almost always brought on to stem a belligerent flow of runs, which means he bowls the toughest overs in the match, and he rarely fails to at least reduce the flow of runs, if ever. Like Narine, batsmen are much happier seeing the back of Bumrah, even if it means respecting the ball more than they’d like to, simply because they can afford to, which leads us to the next point.
Spearheading a weak army
Even with Bumrah almost always guaranteeing a choke of runs and in most situations, a game-defining breakthrough, he is put in that position much more often than he’d like due to the unreliability of Mumbai Indians on the rest of their bowlers. Barring Jasprit, most of the bowlers have looked clueless, and have been bearing the brunt of the bat. The support for him has been minimal, yet he still finds a way to bring Mumbai Indians back into the match. Mumbai Indians have been constantly changing their bowling unit, trying to find the right player who can make their combination at least work, if not look lethal. All these reasons make Bumrah worth his weight in gold, and they find themselves in whatever position they’re in because of the guile and skill of Bumrah
Even though he is giving it his all, there is only so much he can do, which is why Mumbai aren’t in a commanding position at the table. And their hopes of qualifying lie heavy on the shoulders of Bumrah. Even so, his form is a great sign for the Indian selectors, who will be scrambling to find bowlers after most of them have found themselves disappearing out of the park. Fans will be waiting for Bumrah to decimate his opposition in the World Cup, and he hardly disappoints.
