Mumbai: There are few better sights in cricket than watching a fast bowler steaming in, with the crowd egging him on; rattling the stumps, blunting the egos of batters.

Jasprit Bumrah has been that fast bowler this IPL. Again.

His twin strikes late in the rain-hit match against Gujarat Titans on Tuesday almost took Mumbai Indians over the line in a low-scoring thriller. GT snatched victory in the end, but did the Wankhede fans enjoy hearing the echo of their collective chant as they went Boom Boom Bumrah again.

Few would have backed the MI pacer be the showstopper this season. He didn't even play the first four matches as he completed the rehabilitation for the back problem that flared up during the Sydney Test in January, where he trudged away for tests, tired and overworked. In four fewer matches than others, Bumrah, with 13 scalps in eight games, is MI's second highest wicket-taker.

Speed thrills. And it's usually with bowlers who hit the 150kph mark consistently that Bumrah, 31, shares the spotlight. Not this year though.

Umran Malik was ruled unfit at the start by Kolkata Knight Riders. Lockie Ferguson began the tournament with some spark for Punjab Kings before hobbling out holding his left hip. After featuring in one match for KKR, Anrich Nortje has been out with a niggle. Mayank Yadav regained bowling fitness mid-season for Lucknow Super Giants, but with drop in speeds, the express pacer we knew has been unrecognisable.

Bumrah though hasn't lost his bite. The unorthodox genius who overcomes the anxiety of repeated scans, has gone under the knife for a serious back injury, diligently follows rehab guidelines and then returns to punish his body again with his whiplash bowling action.

The fitness setbacks have not affected his aggression. He bounced out Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer in their previous faceoff against Rajasthan Royals. Against Lucknow Super Giants, he brought out his entire range - a dipping low full toss, a perfect yorker, even the off-cutter to flummox Abdul Samad.

On Tuesday, GT needed to maintain only seven runs an over for six overs and they had wickets in hand. Gill brought out his fluent off-side shot to Bumrah's pitched-up delivery. He turned back for his run-up, plotted that he would bowl it a touch shorter, a few yards quicker, with more seam movement cashing in on a freshened-up pitch, curling in. Gill's off-stump was uprooted. Next over, power-hitter Shahrukh Khan's ambition was cut short with a sharp delivery that beat him and hit the stumps off the pad. In the end, GT managed to get the 15 needed off six deliveries when play resumed after a second rain break.

Bumrah has done crazier things with the leather ball, using his range of skills. That he remains the same bowler after recovering from repeated injury setbacks is a testament to his will.

"We knew Jasprit won't be available for the first few games, but it didn't take long for him to get into stride," said Mahela Jayawardene, MI head coach. "There's nothing wrong with him. We've monitored him. His pace is getting better and better. His execution is better. That's a good thing about him that he's got a lot of control, confidence in how he wants to go about, and he gives us a completely different dimension to the attack."

If anything, setbacks have driven Bumrah to bounce back. Some of the most scientific brains in bowling have cautioned him that he could do with a tweak in his bowling action. Michael Holding once asked him to lengthen his run-up to reduce exerting pressure in his delivery stride. Bumrah has stuck to his unorthodoxy so that batters are hurried more than they would against a fast bowler with a conventional action.

Bumrah counts Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish football striker as his constant source of inspiration. "I can relate to his story, that people did not take him seriously and then he became a star," Bumrah once told Rohit Sharma in an online chat.

He's now being advised by experts that he must not play more than two Tests in a row. That a misstep could prove career threatening. In Australia, he was playing the fifth in a row when he broke down. India's five-Test tour of England is only over a month away. Knowing Bumrah, he will show up and try his very best to remain the awkward customer to batters.