In Bumrah, MI have all eggs in one basket

KOLKATA: Not since 2016 has he had a worse IPL average or strike rate. The difference isn’t much though. And viewed in isolation, it shouldn’t be cause for much worry. Toiling away without reward is a truth every bowler takes into stride. Except this is slowly becoming a worrying pattern. The wickets column looks bare. The lengths aren’t always threatening. Jasprit Bumrah, India’s all-format strike bowler, is quietly turning defensive for Mumbai Indians.

Right now, MI are falling prey to their lofty ambition. Picking Jofra Archer in the auction, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be available this season, was always a punt but probably now are they realising its consequences. Equally dicey was the decision to release the Pandya brothers and Rahul Chahar when they should have known Kieron Pollard is in no shape to bowl much (he has bowled seven overs this edition, across two innings). That essentially meant MI retained three batters (Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Pollard) and Bumrah before splurging ₹15.25 crore on Ishan Kishan and ₹8 crore on Archer, nearly half their auction purse of ₹48 crore on two players who wouldn’t bowl this season.

From a bowling group teeming with experienced faces like Trent Boult, Chahar and the Pandya brothers, Bumrah now finds himself helming an attack with far less sting and more inconsistent than ever. All he can do is react, and adapt. “It’s a transition phase that every cricketer understands and every team goes through that,” he said a day before Wednesday’s 12-run loss to Punjab Kings. “We are in that phase; we’ve got a new group. We’ve got some of the old core group as well but a lot of new guys who are understanding the team, understanding the franchise, understanding how the scenarios works... understanding the format of IPL, how you have to handle pressure and achieve success in this league. We are going through that.”

The first, almost inescapable, sacrifice when you are trying to keep shape in times like these is rhythm. Two consecutive overs upfront, two in the backend— that is usually how Bumrah operated till the last season. Not this time though. Coming in the third over against PBKS, he reminded them MI are more than Jaydev Unadkat and Basil Thampi at the start. He came back in the 10th over, ostensibly in search of another breakthrough after Mayank Agarwal’s dismissal the previous over. And then again in the 14th, right after Jonny Bairstow was sent back. By the 19th over, PBKS knew Bumrah would be at his best. He conceded eight runs and pulling it back after Unadkat had conceded 23 in the previous over.

The idea, quite clearly, is to not exhaust Bumrah’s skills at one go. But when batters realise MI don’t have quality backup, they are also willing to play out Bumrah more often. As a result, in three out of five games, Bumrah has gone wicketless. He isn’t always opening (so far Bumrah has bowled two overs together in the first Powerplay only once against Rajasthan Royals) and by the time he comes in to bowl at the end, it’s largely an exercise in damage control. That yorker to Liam Livingstone was a timely reminder of his effectiveness as a white-ball bowler but it can’t be a one-man show.

MI coach Mahela Jayawardene has admitted as much. “We had built a bowling attack over a period of four or five seasons,” he said. “With the big auction, we were not able to retain those options. We knew that. We needed to be different and try and see how best we can execute. We still have some quality bowlers; the skillsets are a bit different. We are trying to figure out how best we can control that,” he said, after Wednesday’s loss. “Obviously, one of the best bowlers we bought at the auction is Jof (Jofra Archer), Jof is not here. It is tough when you are in that kind of a situation. We are trying to see how best we can manage. In terms of the last four-five games, we’ve had some really good spells. We’ve tried to control things for a while but we couldn’t hold that pressure. At certain times, it’s two or three overs we’ve gone big and that has hurt us. That’s something we have to nail down.”

MI have now lost five matches in a row. Having a bad game is normal but Bumrah had earlier insisted, “it is very important that you do not carry baggage going forward and you have to quickly move on.” Is it possible for him to shoulder the burden alone though? For all their admission to getting the bowling resources phenomenally wrong, MI still have nine games to plot and probably dare to win the IPL from here. But quite uncharacteristically for them, MI’s bowling strategy doesn’t have much body to it beyond Murugan Ashwin’s guile and Bumrah’s razor-sharp intuition. To even make the lastfour, forget the final, from here would be some turnaround.