March 23, 2026

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BALLISTIC BUMRAH WHY HE IS THE BEST PACER IN WORLD

SKILLFUL, DISCIPLINED, UPRIGHT AND SUCCESSFUL-- Jasprit Bumrah fits the standard definition of a role model. And yet, his career imparts a lesson that is contrary to what you would normally teach a child: prepare well, study hard and there's no subject you can't ace. Yeah, right. Try telling that to top batsmen around the world who have spent the better part of the past decade trying to decode Bumrah's action and variations, only to still find themselves like rabbits caught in the headlightsAnd why only the batters? Bowlers aiming to replicate the Bumrah model would also be well advised to stay off that path. England great James Anderson summed it up best after watching the Indian speedster steal the semi-final from under England's nose at the recently concluded ICC Men's T20 World Cup. "There's nothing one can learn from him because he's an absolute freak. There's no one bowler in the world--man or woman--who can bowl six yorkers out of six and absolutely nail all of them." What makes this even more inconceivable is that it comes in an age of exhaustive video analysis, where everything can be studied in minute detail and the corresponding data used to solve almost any problem. And yet, no one has been successful in writing the definitive `How to Play Jasprit Bumrah' handbook. Contrast this with several other white-ball bowlers who dominated world cricket in the recent past. Kagiso Rabada, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Anrich Nortje each scaled remarkable heights of dominance with their pace, bounce, swing and variations. But it wasn't long before teams learned to read them and subsequently counter those threats. Bumrah's teammate in the Indian side, Varun Chakaravarthy, serves as a recent example. Ranked the number one T20 bowler in the world coming into the tournament, the mystery spinner--who relied more on his back-of-the-hand googly than the stock leg-break--was eventually found out halfway through the competition. While he was still `emerging' as a threat, he remained under the radar. But the moment he was certified as a matchwinner, teams quickly sorted him out. Unlike Varun, there is very little mystery in what Bumrah does. Anyone who has watched the Gujarat pacer closely knows what is coming next: a bouncer--if struck for a boundary--will likely be followed by a yorker; an over-exuberant batter is often set up with a slower ball. And a tentative one can almost always expect a hard length delivery aimed at the top of off stump. And yet, as aware as batters might be regarding which ammunition is about to be used, they remain helpless in neutralising it. Which is why his latest nickname--"cheat

STATES OF ANXIETY

THROUGH THE WINTER OF 2025, all the news coming out from the Bharatiya Janata Party organisation was about the long-delayed election of a new party president. That season ended in the last week of December, when the BJP brass announced Bihar minister and five-time MLA Nitin Nabin would replace J.P. Nadda. According to party bylaws, the election for national president requires a 50 per cent quorum from the 36 state units (including UTs). The party had the quorum: 31 state units had been elected already. The problem, which continues till date, has been the five remaining statesState presidents are yet to be elected formally in Karnataka, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi, four politically crucial zones where the BJP has tough choices to make. The fifth state in the list is Manipur in the Northeast, where the situation is still too fraught to consider even a discussion