When John Wright’s hawk-like eyes brought Jasprit Bumrah from obscurity to stardom

Jasprit Bumrah, the Indian fast bowler, is currently busy tormenting the Australian batsmen in the Test series. He picked up his maiden six-wicket haul at MCG after making his Test debut earlier this year. The 25-year-old is currently the leading wicket-taker in the four-match series. Previously, the speedster was an integral member of only the limited-overs team following his international debut in 2016.

With his Test career, taking off on a happy note, Bumrah is speculated to taste more success going into the future. However, it was Mumbai Indians’ head coach John Wright, who spotted the talent in Bumrah during the 2013 Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament where he was able to impress the former India head coach. Subsequently, Wright, a retired New Zealand cricketer, got him into the IPL franchise’s squad.

He has got a little bit of pace

“He was playing in a T20 match in Ahmedabad in 2013. I watched him bowl last two or three overs of the innings. He bowled fast yorkers with an interesting action. One of his deliveries hit the footmark and flew right over the head of keeper Parthiv Patel. It went for four byes. I thought gosh!

He has got a little bit of pace. I had a chat with Patel about who he was. Patel was very positive about Bumrah. I then rang Rahul Sanghvi at Mumbai Indians and told him that I have seen this young lad and perhaps we should sign him. We did,” Wright was quoted as saying in Mumbai Mirror.

He made his debut in the IPL in 2013 against Mumbai Indians (MI) and picked up the prized wicket of Virat Kohli, under whom he is playing in Australia. Ever since he has played 61 matches for the Rohit Sharma-captained franchise and has picked up 63 wickets at an economy rate of 7.81. He is set to play his next IPL for Mumbai itself as he was earlier retained.

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