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 He used it like the latest smartphone and toyed with it.This IPL, that toy has looked a little outdated.The numbers are uncharacteristically stark: 46 slower balls bowled, 74 runs conceded, no wickets.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.
Mumbai: Mumbai Indians’ captain Hardik Pandya, left, Jasprit Bumrah, right, and Suryakumar Yadav during an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 (PTI Photo/Kunal Patil)
This IPL, that layer of surprise appears thinner.Gavaskar points to technical drift:“His go-to slower ball length has become fuller… the line that used to target the stumps is now drifting to leg stump.”That marginal shift matters. Bumrah’s slower ball has always worked best when it threatened the stumps first, forcing batters to commit. A fuller, leg-stump line offers release, allowing hitters to access angles, even off mistimed strokes.There’s also an element of overcomplication.“He is overdoing things, and that’s hurting him… He should go back to his basics and stick to what works best for him,” Gavaskar noted.In trying to stay ahead of increasingly prepared batters, Bumrah seems to have added layers, different lengths, slight variations in pace, but in doing so, has he diluted the clarity that once defined the delivery? The slower ball was most effective when it was simple, sharp, and perfectly placed and used sparingly. Now, it occasionally sits in a hittable zone. Also, he has used it too frequently. Against RR, when he had to bowl a maximum of 18 balls, he bowled 10 off-pace ones. Even the uncharacteristic no-balls, six or seven this season, hint at disrupted rhythm.“He is not known for bowling many no-balls. Trying new things is affecting his rhythm,” Gavaskar added.For a bowler built on control, rhythm is everything.There’s also the inevitable factor: familiarity.Bumrah is no longer an unknown quantity. His release, his cues, his patterns, all are constantly dissected by analysts and rival skippers and coaches through years of data and exposure. Batters aren’t just reacting anymore; they’re anticipating. In T20 cricket’s hyper-analytical ecosystem, even micro-signals get decoded.And on flatter pitches, the margin for error is negligible. A slower ball that once induced mishits now travelsIs it right to call this IPL the start of a decline for Bumrah?Gavaskar wants to tread with caution on that one. “It will take just one or two games. Once he starts picking up wickets, he will be back on track.”Bumrah has faced adaptation cycles before. When yorkers were picked, he leaned into hard lengths. When batters lined those up, he turned to angles and seam. The slower ball itself once emerged as a response to batters getting comfortable.This could simply be another such phase, where the weapon has been read. Maybe it’s time for the wielder to sharpen it again.
