‘Dekhna kal, rocket chhodunga': Jasprit Bumrah's missiles to make landfall at Lord's; England ready with Archer
Ravi Shastri is the badshah of bombast, but these four words were uttered in private, without ceremony, to a friend in Cape Town. It was the night of 4 January 2018; despite his pal's prodding, India's then-head coach wouldn't say anything more than 'look out for the rocket'.
This was no pint-sized rocket. He stood 1.78 metres tall, a veritable package of explosive speed and unmatched skill. Until then, he was viewed as a white-ball specialist. That perception changed on January 5, when Jasprit Bumrah became India's 290th Test cricketer.
Shastri and Virat Kohli had assiduously resisted the temptation to unleash Bumrah in the five-day format before then. 2018 was going to be a big year for India, with Test tours of South Africa, England and Australia lined up. Bumrah was integral to their plans; where the rest of the world believed his skills were primarily suited to the cut and thrust of limited-overs cricket, this prescient duo identified him as a potent, destructive force in Test-match play. Look what heights the rocket has touched.
Indisputably the No. 1 bowler in the world, Bumrah took four wickets in his first Test; two matches on, in Johannesburg, he picked up his first five-wicket haul. Within three matches, he had established himself as the most feared bowler in the Indian ranks; not long thereafter, he became the most feared bowler in the universe.
A year and a half after the world was introduced to Bumrah's Test genius, a loose-limbed, braided lad born in Bridgetown broke into the England Test XI. Unlike the Indian, who had to wait two years between his limited-overs and Test debuts, it took Jofra Archer just three months – and a 50-over World Cup winner's medal – to keep his tryst with red-ball heroics. In his very first Test, at Lord's, he terrorised batters with his searing pace and disconcerting bounce extracted seemingly effortlessly from a length. He took five wickets for the Test, but made headlines for the terrible blow to the back of the well-set Steve Smith's head when the Australia great had reached 80. In his next outing in Leeds, he collected six for 45 in the first innings, backing it up with another six-for in the final Test, at The Oval. His four Tests brought him 22 wickets.
The cricket world braced itself for the magic of the two JJs. True, they were in different sides, but the universal feeling was that if Jasprit didn't get you, Jofra would.
Lord's braces for Jasprit Bumrah vs Jofra Archer
How starkly different their careers have panned out. Bumrah has gone from strength to strength and is comfortably the best bowler, bar none, of his generation. He sits on top of the ICC Test bowlers' pile, ahead of such champions as Kagiso Rabada, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. Bumrah boasts 210 wickets from 46 Tests at the ridiculous average of 19.60, picking up a scalp every 42.3 deliveries. If that paints the picture of a ruthless, unforgiving destroyer of batting line-ups, it's not without basis.
Bumrah's career has been blighted by back injuries and he now needs to be managed with care and caution. And yet, compare him with Archer, and you realise how fortunate he and India have been.
Archer has played a mere 13 Tests, struck down by a series of elbow injuries that have frustratingly stinted his climb to greatness. His last Test was in Ahmedabad in February 2021, a day-night game in which he and Bumrah together bowled just 11 overs in the match. Every time he seemed on course for a Test comeback, he hit a roadblock. It was heart-wrenching from the outer; one can't even imagine what the 30-year-old would have gone through.
Now free, thankfully, from injuries, Archer kept bombarding Ben Stokes with text messages at the start of this summer, most containing one word: Zimbabwe? The reference was to the one-off, four-day Test in Nottingham in late May, but his entreaties fell on deaf ears. He then travelled to Chester-le-Street to play for Sussex against Durham – his first county game since the summer of 2021 – and his 18 overs were enough for the team management to decide that he was now primed to return to Test cricket.
On Thursday at Lord's, where it all began for Archer, he will line up against Bumrah and India in what is certain to be an emotional reunion with the five-day format. The 30,000 at the ground, and millions on television, will finally be able to savour the experience of watching two champions – one proven, the other less so for no fault of his – going full tilt at one of the most iconic cricket grounds. Whoever said Test cricket was in need of oxygen.
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