Jasprit Bumrah is the new found fast bowling heart-throb of Indian cricket. The 22-year old right-arm pacer has impressed during the recently concluded tour of Australia and home T20I series against Sri Lanka. Bumrah has picked up 9 wickets in 6 T20Is while he managed 2 wickets in his only ODI match.
In a recent interview to IBN7, Bumrah revealed about his strength and about those people who influenced him greatly in the international cricket.
When Bumrah was asked whether he was surprised so far on his journey, Bumrah replied, “You cannot say that I am surprised. I have eventually worked hard for the success which I have got now. So I am really happy that my hard work has paid off. I will continue to work hard and hopefully, more success will come in the near future.”
Bumrah admitted that the yorker is his strength. He spoke out about his yorkers, “This is the ball which I usually practice quite often even when I play for Gujarat. I bowl the yorkers because it is one my strengths. So I try to practice it… obviously, nobody can master anything but I am trying to practice the skill which I can execute in the match. It is a delivery that is becoming helpful to me in international cricket as well.”
Bumrah also said how MS Dhoni guided him in the international cricket. He called MS Dhoni as “Dhoni bhaiya” when he said, “Dhoni bhaiya has been really helpful to me. His guidance was important for me as a youngster because it was my first tour. So you know coming up the ranks, if the captain is backing you, you get a chance to express yourself in such a big field. So his backing was very important and he told me one thing…to treat it as a normal domestic game, then the pressure would be less on me to perform. That advice helped me quite a lot. I think his role was very important in the success which I got in Australia.”
While Bumrah praised about Dhoni for his international guidance, he also gave credit to his Mumbai Indians coach John Wright for his turnaround in international cricket. Bumrah said about John Wright, “I think I am here because of him, because if he hadn’t picked me in Mumbai Indians 2-3 years ago, I may not have played IPL so early, and [now] I have got to the Indian team so early. So I give him full credit for picking me up and teaching me so many things which are required in cricket.”
When Bumrah was asked about his lessons which he learned from India’s senior pacer Ashish Nehra, Bumrah told, “He was very helpful and we talked about it in the dressing room as well. When I was 5 years old, he made his international debut. It is a big thing for me as a youngster to bowl with a person who has played international cricket for so long. He has so much of experience. So that experience always helps me. I try to ask him questions – what should I do in a match, the kind of fields required for a particular batsman. So I think it is best as a youngster to learn from such a bowler who has played international cricket for such a long period of time.”