Bumrah lost his father at the age of five, leaving his mother, school principal Daljit Bumrah, to raise him and his sister alone. Those early years shaped much of his discipline and temperament. It was inside their small apartment that Bumrah unknowingly developed the yorker that would later define his career bowling repeatedly at the corner of a wall to avoid waking his mother during her afternoon rest.
His rise began in earnest in 2013, when Mumbai Indians coach John Wright spotted him during a local match while scouting for Axar Patel. Bumrah’s sling-arm action immediately stood out, earning him an IPL contract even before he had debuted in senior domestic cricket. Gujarat soon handed him his first T20 cap in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and within weeks he was bowling to Virat Kohli in his IPL debut dismissing him as his very first wicket.
Three years later, a booking error for a flight to Australia changed the course of his career. Sent early to join India’s T20 squad, Bumrah was drafted into the ODI XI after MS Dhoni watched him in the nets. He made an immediate impact and has since become India’s most reliable white-ball bowler.
Bumrah eventually broke into Test cricket in 2018, beginning with a memorable spell in South Africa. His ability to adapt across formats made him the only Indian bowler to hold the No. 1 ICC ranking in Tests, ODIs and T20s.
In the years that followed, Bumrah became central to India’s biggest successes from the 2023 ODI World Cup, where he took 20 wickets, to the 2024 T20 World Cup triumph, where he finished Player of the Tournament.
The Mumbai Indians pacer has also won five IPL titles and continues to be the backbone of India’s attack. Off the field, he married sports presenter Sanjana Ganesan in 2021, and the couple welcomed their son Angad in 2023.
As India’s modern-day pace icon enters another year, Bumrah’s journey stands as a testament to hard work, belief and the rise of India’s fast-bowling era an era he helped define.
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