In Jasprit Bumrah, India have their biggest fast bowling hope

The bowler at the top of his mark is a bundle of nerves. He is a nineteen-year-old kid making his IPL debut. He is continuously wiping his hands on his trousers. He is sweating the nervous kind of sweat.

The powerplay is still on. Facing him is Indian superstar Virat Kohli. At the non striker's end, stands the human hulk Chris Gayle. His multiple World Cup-winning captain, Ricky Ponting sets the field for him. The soon to be the most feared bowler in the world Mitchell Johnson is helping him calm down. So is a certain Sachin Tendulkar from mid on. The current leading test wicket taker, Harbhajan Singh shouts encouragement from mid wicket.

After a few seconds, all of them disappear. And he is left alone. They have done all they could. Now it's up to him. To do what any aspiring cricketer wants to do. Give all they have got playing in a packed stadium, with millions watching on TV.

As he takes his first strides, he would know that today, he can live his dream. Or experience his worst nightmare. It's cricket. It's life.

It looks as if it's a nightmare.

The first ball is short outside off. It hardly reaches Kohli, who waits and waits, and finally, when it comes, thrashes it to the point boundary with all his might. The next ball is almost a replay.

The kid looks lost. Like he shouldn't be here. Not quite ready to handle this.

The third ball is a dot. A sarcastic round of applause from the crowd. He is in a hurry to complete his over. He wants to wake up from sleep and realise it's not for real. This is not how anyone plans their first big match to play out.

The fourth ball is a bit fuller than the first three. Kohli slaps it over cover for another four. As he goes to tap gloves with Gayle, he has his trademark arrogant smirk on his face. As if to say that he'll smash this kind of bowling even after having had vodka shots the entire night. That smirk is dismissive. So are his shots. So is is walk.

By now, the kid has his head down. No one comes up to him. He, all of nineteen, is out there facing his most horrific demons. Each ball, each boundary feels the same as when someone is stabbed with a dagger. With each hit, dies a bit of hope.

The fifth ball feels different. His awkward action looks even more awkward as he runs diagonally to the wicket, and delivers the ball from wide of the crease.

It swings in more than one could imagine doing in Cricket '07. Kohli is left shocked. He can hardly move his bat or his feet. It's much quicker too. The first four were Bajaj scooters. This one is a Royal Enfield.

Kohli is trapped on the pads. The kid appeals. It's his last drop of hope. To turn around his greatest nightmare. He's almost squealing. The umpire raises his finger. The kid shouts so loud he would probably have lost his voice.

The others mob him. But this is his moment. This is his dream.

He shows he can handle the big stage. He can handle the pressure. He can hold himself amongst the stars. He shows he belongs here.

He takes two more wickets to end with 3 for 32. Ponting bowls him out by the 12th over here. And, through the entire season, he hardly bowls at the death. For that Mumbai, have other options. International players. Maybe, they feel that he's not cut out for that.

Little do they know that two and a half years later, this kid would become India's biggest death bowling hope.

For now, the 4th of April 2013, the kid grows into a man. On TV, as the telecast is coming to an end, Harsha Bhogle signs off by saying "Jasprit Bumrah. Remember the name".

****

For the next two years, Jasprit Bumrah worked his gut out, bowled overs by the dozen for Gujarat at the domestic level and for Mumbai Indians in the IPL. He developed the bouncer, the ball that straightened after pitching as well as an away swinger. He added a yard of pace. More than all of that, he worked on the yorker, the yorker that no one in the country was capable of consistently producing. Not even one soul.

He learnt by watching Lasith Malinga from close quarters, from practising with him at the Mumbai Indians camp. In the matches, his captains, Rohit Sharma in the IPL and Parthiv Patel at Gujarat, trusted him, under pressure, to deliver at the death. And he produced consistent results. The wickets came a plenty in List A and T20 cricket. He kept the runs in check. He was a captain's dream, his best friend in times of distress. Ever consistent. Ever reliable.

Concurrently, the Indian team were having a horrible time in limited overs cricket. No matter how many runs their batsmen scored, no matter how clinical their fielding was, the bowlers always leaked a mountain of runs at the death. They tried Ishant Sharma, they tried, Varun Aaron. They tried Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Jaydev Unadkat, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, everyone. No one except Shami inspired confidence. And even he was average at best.

Bumrah's rise came at the correct time. India needed a death bowler. And in their never-ending quest for that, they turned to him.

For India, he was just another option. For them, 23 January 2016 was just another day, just another ODI against Australia. For Bumrah, it was his moment, his dream. An Indian cap.

****

India had got him for the death.

On 23 January, Bumrah was a bundle of nerves at the top of his run in Sydney. There were players who came to encourage him, but they left within seconds. He was there, again, all alone. Wanting to live his dream. Aspiring to take wickets, to win matches for his country.

He bowled a good first spell, getting captain Steve Smith in the process. But, India had got him for the death. They wanted to see what he could do there.

Normally, MS Dhoni's smile fades as the innings progresses. as the death nears. For, he knows that India are going to be hammered at the death.

Today, during that end overs phase, Dhoni flashes a toothy grin. Bumrah, the new guy, has been bowling yorkers ball after ball, on demand. On off, on the middle. Swinging in, going away. He has the entire variety and he's not taken too long to show it.

James Faulkner is bowled by a massive inswinging one. It's not something you're used to with India. Seeing toes and stumps being crushed.

But, things change. And for India, Bumrah is the symbol of that change. For India, Bumrah is the change, that change.

To silence those people who still had doubts, in the following T20I's, Bumrah bowls even better than in Sydney, under much more pressure, still crushing toes and beliefs that Indians can't bowl the yorker.

It feels different. It feels nice. To see an Indian bowler cherish the opportunity of bowling at the death. To see an Indian bowler bowling yorkers, on demand.

Indian bowlers have bowled yorkers in the past. Not consistently, not under pressure, though. And therein lies the difference. Bumrah can handle the big stage. He can be comfortable with himself despite being in a team full of stars and loud personalities. He can handle the pressure. He can deliver no matter how important a match it is, no matter how dire the team's situation is.

This is why he's better at what he does than anyone else in the country. He has that ice cool temperament. Those nerves of steel.

****

As he takes a wicket in the first T20I at Adelaide, the first one jumping onto him is Virat Kohli. He's been seen chatting with him more than anyone else. Encouraging him, telling him to take it easy, telling him to be.

After one of Bumrah's better yorkers, he lifts both his eyebrows up. This time, the gesture is not dismissive. It's one of respect, one of being in awe.

Captain Dhoni sees him as India's best. So does heir apparent Kohli. He's India's biggest hope. He's also their only one.