‘His action attracts injuries’ - Kapil Dev speaks about Jasprit Bumrah

For all his success across formats, Jasprit Bumrah’s action is not conventional - there is hop, a skip, a trundle to the stumps and then he hurls the ball across to the batsman. This has given him massive success his career so far, but then, the action also took a toll on his body. He is out of action with a back injury. Speaking about his action, former Indian captain Kapil Dev stressed on the importance of having a sound technique and how this, plays a pivotal role in the careers of players.

“Take the example of Bishan Bedi. He was a body bowler, not an arm bowler like most spinners or wrist bowlers. He was technically the best spin bowler because he bowled with the body. Look at Gavaskar as a batsman — technically flawless. Even today, at 70, give him a bat and he will come out technically very sound. But if a batsman is an ‘eye player’ he is more enjoyable to watch. Like Virender Sehwag, (GR) Viswanath. Take Sachin Tendulkar. He could have played for another five years because he was technically sound,” Kapil told Sportstar.

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“So if your bowling action is technically sound you make a bigger impact. See what happened to (Jasprit) Bumrah, his action attracts injuries. He uses his arm more than body, so that can be a problem. A bowler like Bhuvneshwar (Kumar) will last longer because he uses his body,” he further added.

The legendary bowler also stressed on the importance of identifying a length and always keeping the ball up to pick up wickets. He said that Indian bowlers were guilty of pulling their lengths back in overseas conditions.

“Unfortunately Indian bowlers tend to bowl short in Australia because they get carried away after seeing the bounce. In the process they forget line and length. I can understand because when the wicketkeeper collects the ball in front of his face it cheers you up. But it does not always get you wickets. (Mohammed) Shami is guilty of that. He bowls a yard shorter when he plays overseas,” he said.