Bumrah faces risk of suffering lumbar injuries, feels strength and conditioning sciences expert

Jasprit Bumrah's freakishly unconventional bowling action may pose injury concerns to his "lumbar vertebrae", feels Dr Simon Feros, a lecturer in functional anatomy/strength and conditioning sciences.

Part of Deakin University's sports team in Victoria, Australia, Feros and renowned physiotherapist Gloster studied the Indian pacer's bowling action.

Ranked the third best sport science school in the world, Deakin University's School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences is a leader in its field.

"Bumrah tends to release the ball outside the line of the front foot. This means he can 'push' at the ball, usually resulting in an excellent in-swing delivery to a right hand batter.

"However, if he exceeds 45 degrees of trunk lateral flexion (which I think he may on some occasions), then this element of his action may pose some injury concerns to his lumbar vertebrae," said Feros.

The lumbar vertebrae are the five vertebrae between the rib cage and the pelvis.

Even as many in the international cricket community feel Bumrah could find it difficult to sustain for long without injury with his unusual action, Feros and Gloster made some positive observations about one of the world's most successful fast bowlers of recent times.

"In terms of pelvis and shoulder segment alignment in back foot contact, delivery stride, and back foot contact, Bumrah's action looks safe; he doesn't appear to place his spine under excessive torsional stress," Feros said.

So, what makes him so lethal despite possessing a whip-like action? It's Bumrah's uniqueness, according to Gloster.

"His unique action allows him to deliver consistently the types of deliveries he possesses, particularly his yorker. The ability of Lasith Malinga to be so effective was in part due to his unusual action (making it often difficult to pick up the ball)."
"With Bumrah, the ball is harder to detect as its higher and behind his body. He also runs in quite slowly, which would affect the rhythm or coordination of the batter in being able to time the stroke appropriately given the arm speed and delivery speed of Bumrah is so fast compared to his other segments."