Jasprit Bumrah Faces Rare Struggles, Slammed by Sunil Gavaskar Over No-Balls

The 19th season of the IPL (IPL 2026) hasn't been anything special for Jasprit Bumrah. The world's deadliest bowler, who was almost perfect till a few months ago, now looks very different from what he used to be while playing for the Mumbai Indians in the premier cricket tournament. Bumrah is finding it hard to take wickets. Alongside taking less number of wickets, he has delivered quite a few no-balls in this season.

In his 32 years of age, Bumrah has delivered eight no-balls so far this season. Out of those eight, three were seen against the Lucknow Super Giants on Monday evening. The former Indian cricket team captain, Sunil Gavaskar, did not like this one bit. When Bumrah delivered two no-balls in the 14th over of LSG's innings, Gavaskar lost his cool.

? Wickets that didn't count, no-balls, and bat flying out of hands ?

The most eventful over of the season? ?‍♂️

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Gavaskar reprimanded Bumrah, saying that no-balls are unacceptable in T20 cricket and that players should display a more professional attitude. In fact, Bumrah dismissed Himmat Singh on the third ball of the 14th over, but the ball turned out to be a no-ball, and Himmat went on to score an unbeaten 40 to take LSG to a mammoth total of 228.

During commentary, Gavaskar said, "Don't tell me again. Don't tell me. Don't tell me that Bumrah bowled a no-ball." This is absolutely unacceptable. This is absolutely unacceptable. You're a professional cricketer, this is absolutely unacceptable. Wides, yes, I can understand, but no-balls, absolutely not.

When Bumrah bowled consecutive no-balls in the 14th over, cameras turned to Mumbai head coach Mahela Jayawardene and bowling coach Lasith Malinga. Both looked visibly disappointed, as if at a loss for words. Seeing this, Gavaskar said, "Yes, bowling coach. This is a big deal."

Bumrah went wicketless in the match against Lucknow Super Giants. He conceded 45 runs in his four overs. This season, Bumrah has taken just three wickets in 10 matches. This is one of his worst IPL seasons so far. Meanwhile, when Bumrah bowled consecutive no-balls, Deep Dasgupta said that this, in a way, sums up the entire season.

Regarding the match between Mumbai and Lucknow, Mumbai won the toss and elected to bowl first. Lucknow then posted 228/5 in 20 overs, thanks to brilliant knocks from Nicholas Pooran (63), Mitchell Marsh (44), Himmat Singh (40), and Aiden Markram (31*). Mumbai Indians then achieved the target with six wickets in hand and eight balls to spare. Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton played superb knocks of 84 and 83 runs respectively.