Pace generation from short run-up makes Bumrah injury prone: Holding

West Indies legend Michael Holding feels Jasprit Bumrah’s ability to hit the deck hard with short run up is unique, but also makes him more injury prone.

“My problem with Bumrah, and I mentioned it to him when last time I saw him in England, is how long that body will hold up with that short run and the amount of effort he has to put into in his bowling, it is a human body. It is not a machine,” - Michael Holding on Jasprit Bumrah's bowling action.

Jasprit Bumrah makes it difficult for batsmen to measure his pace with his short run-up, but the Indian pacer’s body may not hold for long because of that approach, feels West Indies’ fast bowling great Michael Holding.

Holding, who completed the famous West Indies pace quartet along with Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and Andy Roberts, said Bumrah’s ability to hit the deck hard with short run up is unique.

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“Bumrah hits the deck hard and that creates more problem. And especially with that short run, it is difficult for batsmen to formulate in the their minds the pace at which that ball is coming,” Holding said on the Sony Ten Pit Stop show.

“People talk about bowlers who hit the deck hard and bowlers who just skid off the surface. Malcolm Marshal, for instance, great fast bowler, he skidded the ball off the surface, more than hitting the deck,” he added.

It may be an advantage for Bumrah but it also has a drawback, the 68-year-old felt.

“My problem with Bumrah, and I mentioned it to him when last time I saw him in England, is how long that body will hold up with that short run and the amount of effort he has to put into in his bowling, it is a human body. It is not a machine,” said Holding.

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Bumrah was out of action for four months last year due to a stress fracture in his lower back and returned to competitive cricket only in January this year when India played Sri Lanka.

Holding said both Bumrah and Mohammed Shami are India’s top pacers and it’s “not just because of the pace” they generate.

“It is important to have pace, but you have got to have control as well and both of these guys have control. Shami is not very tall, is not extremely quick, but is quick enough. And he has the control and he moves the ball around a bit.

“You don’t find Shami spraying the ball all over the place. When you spray the ball all over the place, batsmen get relief, watching those balls go away. If you are constantly (bowling) in the right areas, attacking these batsmen, it creates more and more pressure and they are more liable to make mistakes. So that is Shami’s real strength,” said Holding.