Why Bumrah's IPL 2025 could be the greatest IPL for a bowler

People on X have been calling him Josh Hazlegod since Ashes 2017-18, but it is Mumbai Indians (MI) that have got the closest to a religious experience. You can almost always neatly divide any given match of MI, any given campaign, or their entire IPL history into Before Bumrah and Anno Domini.

In hindsight, MI made a mistake at the toss in the Eliminator against Gujarat Titans (GT), had to fight heavy dew and were being carted all around; GT's run rate at the end of the 14th over was higher than the asking rate, and they had eight wickets in hand. And then appeared the lord, Jasprit Bumrah. The miracle of Bumrah created what might yet be the image of IPL 2025: Washington Sundar in a variation of the spreadeagle having failed to negate a yorker, and his stumps all over the place.

In this year's IPL, Bumrah missed the first four matches. MI won only one of those. Since Burmah's introduction to this year's IPL, they have won eight out of 11 matches. Basically, that is the same number of losses in the four matches Before Bumrah and 11 matches after his return.

Overall, MI had zero titles in five years Before Bumrah; they are now gunning for the sixth one in 13 seasons with him in the side.

There is no mistaking correlation with causation here. Even in a format with as limited agency for bowlers as T20, Bumrah creates a massive impact. The overall economy rate and average in all T20 matches involving Bumrah are 8.12 and 27.7, respectively. Bumrah, though, has gone at 6.86 and 20.09. When you are that much better than what the average bowler is doing in the same conditions, you can create a massive impact even in T20. Bumrah's teams have to be really ordinary for him not to have an impact on the result. They usually aren't.

This year has been extra special for Bumrah. Bear in mind, it has been the year with the most 200-plus totals and the highest economy rate, and will end up with the most sixes. Among those who have bowled at least 25 balls in this IPL, Bumrah holds the best economy rate: 6.36 per over as against the overall 9.61. To turn in his most economical IPL ever in the big 2025 is phenomenal. Only three bowlers with as many or more wickets than him are still alive in the tournament.

T20 is a format where batters hit you regardless, making it difficult to define what a good ball is, or to ascertain cause and effect. That's not the case with Bumrah, though. Just one look at his pitch map, and you know why he has done well. A total of 43.41% of Bumrah's deliveries have been full tosses, yorkers, or in the 2-4m bin. These can safely be assumed to be attempted yorkers. His unique action gives Bumrah the opposite of dip - the lift, which makes it difficult to line up any error in attempted yorkers.

To have that higher margin for error because of a physical irregularity is one thing, but to hammer it home so beautifully is another. Bumrah's full tosses have gone at just 7.42 runs per over (11.58 for all other fast bowlers), his yorkers at 5.49 per over (6.66 for others) and 2-4m deliveries at 5 per over (8.2 for others). Others have bowled only 22% of their deliveries in these three zones because if they miss their yorker, they get punished.

The worst region to bowl in this year's IPL has been 4-6m, which is the aggressive good length on a seaming pitch but just a slot ball on the T20 pancakes. Bumrah has veered into that zone only 7.75% of the time for 8.1 runs an over, while others have made the mistake nearly twice: 13.83% for an economy rate of 11.82.

Bumrah has basically bowled defensive good lengths or hard lengths or attempted yorkers 36.82% of the time. This is incredible control over what you want to do. Hyperextension gives you certain benefits, but not this rate of execution and awareness of your game and the game in general.

Apart from the lift on his on-pace deliveries, Bumrah generates alarming dip and cut on the slower ones. He is streets ahead of the slower balls bowled by other bowlers. For others, only those slower balls that end up as yorkers have gone for under a-run-a-ball. For Bumrah, the whole band from 0-8m, plus 10-12m, is under a-run-a-ball. His slower balls in the slot have yielded a batting strike rate of just 50.

Against his next opponents, Punjab Kings (PBKS), Bumrah bowled four overs for just 23 runs earlier in the season even as PBKS chased down 185. Against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), who are in the final, Bumrah went for just 29 runs in his four overs even as they scored a match-winning 221.

So, for MI to win the title, they have to beat the two rare sides that have risen above Bumrah in the league stages. In both those matches, both Trent Boult and Mitchell Santner went either for or above ten runs an over. That tells you the scale of heavy lifting the batters have to do off the others.

In a batters' format, in a year that belongs to batters more than any other, Bumrah has two possible shots at making this arguably the greatest IPL for a bowler despite missing the first four matches. Still, there are many things that can go wrong: the toss, the dew, bad day for others around him, or a batting failure, but Bumrah is not likely to be one of them.