Slow and unsteady: Has Jasprit Bumrah’s once-lethal variation lost its edge?

There was a time when Jasprit Bumrah’s slower ball wasn’t just a variation, it was sorcery. A carefully disguised trick, delivered with identical arm speed, that forced even the best batters into indecision. He didn’t just use it. He used it like the latest smartphone and toyed with it.

This IPL, that toy has looked a little outdated.

The numbers are uncharacteristically stark: 46 slower balls bowled, 74 runs conceded, no wickets. For a bowler whose reputation rests as much on deception as on discipline, that’s a rare dip. And it mirrors a broader struggle. Bumrah has just three wickets in 10 matches this season, an economy of 8.89, and an average ballooning to 109.67. These are figures that don't do justice to a maestro, and Bumrah's struggles have had a direct impact on the Mumbai Indians in what has been a forgettable campaign.

Sunil Gavaskar, speaking on Star Sports, perhaps summed it up best:

“Bumrah is giving his best, but he seems to be trying too many extra things. He is creating wicket-taking chances, but luck is not on his side. His pace has also dropped. His go-to slower ball length has become fuller. The line that used to target the stumps is now drifting to the leg stump.”

That observation goes to the heart of the issue. The slower ball hasn’t just lost bite, it has lost precision.

But one perhaps understands why Bumrah goes to it so often. Because it has allowed him to break games open. Just hit the rewind button and jog your memory back to the Boxing Day Test vs Australia at the MCG in 2018. Shaun Marsh in. India pushing for a breakthrough before lunch. Bumrah rolls his fingers across the seam, same action, different pace, Marsh doesn't read it, and the ball hits his pads, and he is plumb in front as India seize control.

Lord’s 2021: Ollie Robinson, eating into time and blunting India’s push for a memorable win on Day Five, was undone by a change of pace from round the stumps and was lbw.

The global stage offered even clearer illustrations. Steve Smith failed to spot a slower one in the 2023 ODI World Cup final and was lbw. It offered a brief window where India sensed momentum in a heartbreaking loss. Mohammad Rizwan, twice deceived, in Ahmedabad and then in New York. Harry Brook in the T20 WC semifinal, Rachin Ravindra and Mitch Santner in the final, each instance reinforcing how Bumrah used the slower ball not as a stock option, but as a trigger point for collapse.

His MI teammate Ryan Rickelton could not read his variation in Ahmedabad, and Roston Chase in Kolkata too was foxed. The pattern was familiar. Bumrah’s slower ball thrived on disguise, timing and understanding of the situation. It arrived when batters least expected it, and left them without answers.