‘Can bowl anytime, anywhere’ – Moeen Ali decodes Jasprit Bumrah’s role ahead of India vs Pakistan clash | Exclusive

England all-rounder Moeen Ali has opened up on India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling categorisation. India have constantly experimented with Bumrah lately, from using three of his four overs in the powerplay during the 2025 Asia Cup to not using him in that phase at all in the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Bumrah provides his captains the rare luxury of delivering the goods in every phase of the game. While he was predominantly a new-ball and death bowler with his four overs split evenly across the two phases, the pacer has displayed his wares in the middle overs as well.

Bumrah, who missed India’s tournament opener against USA at the Wankhede Stadium with illness, returned for the encounter against Namibia in Delhi, which India won by a record margin of 93 runs – now their biggest win at T20 World Cups by margin of runs.

The ace pacer did not bowl a single over while the field restrictions were in place, with India sharing the new ball duty between left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh and seam-bowling all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube. It remains to be seen whether Suryakumar Yadav and Co. will stick to the same bowling blueprint against Pakistan in their upcoming clash on February 15 in Colombo.

However, India’s experimentation with Bumrah has raised questions about his role. Moeen explained what makes Bumrah the best in the business and what could be India’s plan with him come the marquee clash against Pakistan.

“There are two types of powerplay bowlers. You have the new ball bowler, who early can get early wickets… Like a Shaheen [Afridi]. He can get wickets straight away. Very good with his swinging after the first over, maybe the first two overs. And then you have the other guys who do the hard work in the powerplay, who bowl like the third or the fourth over and the last over of the powerplay," Moeen said on the latest episode of Mr Cricket UAE's podcast.

"And that’s where Bumrah is amazing, because they are the hardest overs. What makes Bumrah special is that he bowls [these hard overs]. Haris Rauf did this for Pakistan for a while. He bowled the hard overs, the fourth and the sixth over, which is when the teams are attacking most of the time.

So… Bumrah can bowl anytime, anywhere, any over. It depends on the situation. So, like, if it’s spinning and you open [with] a spin, then obviously you don’t use Bumrah as much. You can have the luxury of bowling his four overs after the powerplay. But I do think in big games… You should have him [bowling in the powerplay]. You need to throw him on because if he gets two wickets early in the powerplay…” concluded Moeen.