As Bumrah feels jaded, unheralded pacers emerge in IPL. But here's a word of caution

The week that went by saw the culmination of the third week of the 2026 edition of Indian Premier League (IPL). As is wont, this time too the championship has seen the arrival of exciting, new players on the national stage during the last 20-odd days, which gives a peep into the amazing talent that the country possesses in this game. Here, the surprise element has been the overshadowing of batsmen by the bowlers, with the newcomers amongst the latter category coming up with more eye-catching performances than those in the former group.

But the real shock has been the relative non-performance of India’s tallest bowler in T20 cricket -- Jasprit Bumrah. It would not be an exaggeration to state that Bumrah is considered the best fast bowler in the world in all formats of the game. It was his bowling that made the difference in all closely-fought encounters that the national side played, both in the 2024 as well as the 2026 editions of the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cups.

It often happened that batsmen from opposing teams took extra care and caution while playing Bumrah, with the result that bowlers operating with him reaped extra wickets! Hardik Pandya was the beneficiary both in the finals of the 2024 T20 World Cup and in the semifinals of the 2026 championship as South African and English batsmen chose to indulge in some risk-taking while facing him, after showing extra deference to Bumrah!

The tour to Australia last winter, where Bumrah picked up 32 wickets in a five-Test series, showcased his potency in the longer duration version of the game. In fact, he looked like taking a wicket every time he had the ball in his hand and would have ended with more scalps to his credit had injury not forced him out during the last Test. His tally of 504 wickets in international cricket (234 in Tests, 149 in One Day Internationals and 121 in T20 games) stands as testimony to his unparalleled success in all formats at the highest level.

Hence, it has come as a shock to followers of the game to see Bumrah going through a bad patch with the ball, with no wickets against his name in the five games he has played to date for his side, the Mumbai Indians (MI), in the current edition of IPL. Even worse, batsmen have been able to pick his length and line and score runs off his bowling with comparative ease. In short, Bumrah looks a pale shadow of his match-winning self at present and badly needs a couple of wickets to restore his confidence.

The poor returns by the two top bowlers in the country stand in sharp contrast to the sterling display by their less famous compatriots on the other sides. Praful Hinge, hailing from Vidarbha, was a virtual unknown outside his immediate circles, with a tally of 27 wickets from 10 first-class matches before April 13. He not only made his debut in IPL on that fateful evening for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), but also set the stadium alight with an amazing first over in which he scalped Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel and Lhuan-dre Pretorius, conceding just one run. He later added the wicket of Riyan Parag to his tally, to return with figures of 4 for 34, which won him the Player of the Match award.

Hinge was ably supported by Sakib Hussain, another debutant, who also picked up 4 wickets, conceding only 24 runs. Coming into the game as an impact player, Hussain dismissed the in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal in his first over and returned for a second spell, where he accounted for Donovan Ferreira, Tushar Deshpande and Ravi Bishnoi to set up a 57-run win for his side. Hussain is from Bihar and has played only 6 first-class matches to date, with 16 wickets to his credit.

Hinge and Hussain are not the only bowling sensations of the current IPL season. Rasikh Salam of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) was in his element in the game against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), returning with a tally of 4 wickets for 24 runs. Salam, a medium pacer from Jammu and Kashmir, has been playing first-class cricket since 2019. He also made his IPL debut in 2019, but was released from the side after playing one match for MI. Stints with KKR in 2022 and Delhi Capitals in 2024 did not help his cause much and he was fortunate to be picked by RCB in the 2025 mega auction. He had to be content with playing only two games last year as RCB stuck to their tried and tested pace bowling combination of Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal. However, an injury to Dayal opened the doors for him during the current season and he grabbed it eagerly to come up with a stunning performance that placed his side on the road to victory against LSG.

One common strand seen in the careers of Hinge, Hussain and Salam is that they hail from regions where cricket does not have deep roots. Neither do these places have a history of producing talented cricketers. All of them took to the game late and had to overcome numerous challenges to gain the attention of talent scouts of IPL franchisees. Hussain was picked up by KKR during the 2024 season but was dropped after that season without playing a game. Salam lost two years on account of a suspension due to age fraud at the junior level and had to move to Vadodara for getting more opportunities at the first-class level.

However, one needs to inject a word of caution while applauding the performances of these youngsters. IPL history is replete with stories of numerous bowlers who shot into prominence through stunning spells, but ended up without doing full justice to their talent. Umran Malik was the star of IPL 2022 when he picked wickets at will, stunning batsmen with the raw pace he generated. His tally of 22 wickets in that season won him a place in the national side for white-ball cricket. Despite being given ample opportunities, he could not strike it rich in the international arena, where his propensity to rely solely on sheer pace limited his effectiveness. He was not a regular member of the J&K team that won the Ranji Trophy championship a couple of months ago. He presently languishes on the sidelines of IPL, as a member of the SRH contingent, without getting an opportunity to play a game.

The same is the case with Mayank Yadav, who impressed one and all with the searing pace he could generate even while bowling on lifeless tracks. He was also fast-tracked to the national squad after an impressive show in the 2024 IPL championship and played a couple of T20 Internationals. However, a series of injuries forced him into the sidelines, from where he has not yet been able to recover and get back to the middle. He is a member of LSG squad though he has not played any matches for them yet this year.

As stated earlier, bowlers have been overshadowing batsmen in this IPL season. A cursory look at the matches played so far shows that bowlers have won the Player of the Match (POTM) award in approximately 40% of the games. This shows their increasing role in deciding the winners of matches this year, especially when compared to the previous editions when batsmen used to win this award on close to 80% occasions, with bowlers winning them only on 20% or less.

This brings one back to the issue of loss of form affecting Jasprit Bumrah. The reason is simple - his feeling jaded due to playing for long periods in the high-voltage arena of international cricket. He needs a break from the game for a short span, which will help him recharge his batteries and get back to peak fitness and form. He is a seasoned campaigner, blessed with superb skillsets, abundant experience and plenty of intelligence and will be able to bounce back with renewed vigour and match-winning abilities after a brief breather from the game. Though it may be a tough call for the franchisee to take, given the amounts invested in him, it will suit his interests as well as that of the game better if he is “ordered” to take a brief period of enforced rest and vacation from competitive cricket.