The Story:
Jasprit Bumrah produced a wonderful spell of fast bowling against Sri Lanka in the third ODI at Pallekele to snap up his maiden five wicket haul of his career, claiming figures of 5/27. This bowling spell now complements the four 4 wicket haul which Bumrah had registered in first 19 ODIs.
The seamers bowled in his natural avatar maintaining a tight line and length, denying the Lankans any opportunity to break free.
The learning curve
For any young bowler, it is important to not get carried away with such overwhelming performances. Bumrah seems to have this understanding in him already and termed the performance as a part of his learning curve at the international level.
“You have to learn new things, which is my main aim. This is my first visit to Sri Lanka and I never played here. There is always a challenge to play in different conditions. So, I look to do that by asking questions to seniors and learning from their experiences. I look to do that.”
Bumrah also felt that in modern day cricket, it is important to keep making changes in skillset to stay on top of the game.
“After a point, nowadays with technology coming into cricket. People have started to analyze. You may try and do different things but once the videos and pick out the trick, they know what to expect. You have to constantly keep evolving and adapt to the situations. One trick won’t work for longer periods. If you want to play from a long period of time you have to evolve according to the wickets.”
In his first spell with the new ball, Bumrah picked up the wickets of Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis while in the second spell with the old ball he removed Lahiru Thirimanne, Milinda Siriwardana, and Akila Dananjaya in a display of yorkers and short pitch bowling.
Having done well with the old as well as the new ball, Bumrah was asked about his preference, to which he replied:
“I am happy as far as I’m able to contribute to the team. If they want to bowl first change, I’m happy. And, if they want me to bowl with the new ball, I will be happy. I have bowled with the new ball as well as the old. I have learned over the period of time.”
He also had a word of praise for coach Ravi Shastri and highlighted the importance of his role in his development as a cricketer.
“When I came into the team, Ravi (Shastri) sir was the Team Director and he basically told me to treat Tests as Ranji Trophy games to keep the pressure away. He has been watching me since the Under – 19 days and IPL days. I have worked with him. It is always good to talk to him.”