With India eyeing a hat-trick of Test series wins in Australia, Bumrah will once again be captain Rohit Sharma’s go-to man. But as per former Australia pacer Geoff Lawson, the Australian have more than one reason to fret over Bumrah. The India pacer, Lawson, reckons will land in Australia later this year, with three secret weapons, starting with his ‘broad smile’, ‘never-ending energy’ and his ability to generate reverse- swing, which often tends to go unnoticed.

“[Jasprit Bumrah] is a cross between C3P0 and the Transformer Optimus Prime. You’ve just got to love his broad smile, never-ending energy and the seamless transition from his yorker to his bouncer. There are no ‘tells’, no queues from his action to alert batsmen to the change of length or seam position. The brevity of his run-up does not give time to settle into the normal batting rhythm of tap, tap, tap, then fix a stare at the ball in hand,” Lawson told Mid-day.

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“The challenge for Bumrah, or any fast bowler in Australia, is getting the most out of the Kookaburra Turf ball. If the pitches are hard and dry (which they are most of the time but recently some juicy strips have been served up that has made seam bowling a true delight), he will get reverse swing going sooner rather than later. Seam bowling the key to being successful in Australia, is definitely your older ball skills and reverse swing is a significant part of that.”

Lawson’s challenge for Bumrah

In the 2018/19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Bumrah picked up 21 wickets at an average of 17, including a best of 6/33. Two years later, Bumrah took 13 more from three matches before getting ruled out of the fourth due to a back injury. And that is an area where Lawson feels Bumrah needs to watch out. For the first time in 33 years, India will be playing as many as five Tests in Australia – a long and gruesome task in itself – where especially fast bowlers will need to manage their workload smartly.

“The challenge for Bumrah and probably all of the bowlers, is how the body is managed across a five-Test series. If he can be used in shorter spells with plenty of overs from the spinners then come the closing couple of Tests, he may well be the deciding factor. The Australian crowds are more likely to see him as a respected and loved opponent rather than a baddie to be booed, much as they did with the great West Indian fast bowlers who visited Australia in the 1980s,” added Lawson, who played 46 Tests and 79 ODIs.