Before Bumrah, there was the man who invented the Moonball
2 min readMay 5, 2026 10:22 AM IST Jasprit Bumrah had seemingly dismissed Himmat Singh, except that the sirent went off for no ball soon after MI started celebrating. (File Photo/BCCI-Creimas)Batting great and former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has often quite publicly made known his disdain for bowlers conceding front-foot no-balls and as it turns out, even someone of the stature of Jasprit Bumrah is not immune from this. Bumrah is enduring arguably his worst season in the Indian Premier League this year and it simply didn’t get better on Monday night in Mumbai Indians’ match against the Lucknow Super Giants. The ace pacer went wicketless and conceded 45 runs in his four overs. His night was summed up in the 14th over, which was his third of the match. Bumrah sent in the third ball back of a length. It stayed low and moved away late a tad bit from the batsman Himmat Singh, who poked at it and ended up edging it to the wicketkeeper. Except none of it mattered because the siren went off for a front-foot no-ball. That was alread his second no-ball of the day.Bumrah followed that up by smearing a yorker outside off stump too wide and that became another extra. He re-bowled the free-hit delivery, Himmat sliced his shot off side and Suryakumar Yadav took the catch, which didn’t matter. The batters ran a single but it was made even worse than that because the siren went up for no-ball again. Gavaskar was in commentary at this point for Star Sports and he said: “Do not tell me again. Do not tell me. Do not tell me that Bumrah has bowled a no-ball.” “That is not acceptable. That is not acceptable. You are a professional cricketer; it is not acceptable. Wides, yes, I understand, but no-balls, no,” Gavaskar further said. on air. Mumbai Indians bowling coach Lasith Malinga could be seen in the dugout with a wry smile. “Yes, bowling coach. This is a big one,” said Gavaskar when the cameras panned to the former Sir Lanka pacer.