Jasprit Bumrah took 4 for 56 to ensure Australia’s downfall and was complimented well by spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (3 for 25) and debutant pacer Mohammed Siraj (2 for 40) which triggered Australia’s collapse to 195.
Indian batsmen would look to be confident without being reckless taking one session at a time, said pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah after a fine bowling performance from the visitors put them in command against Australia on the opening day of the second Test.
Jasprit Bumrah: India Want To Be Positive In Mindset And Not Being Reckless But Play With Confidence
India were 36/1 losing Mayank Agarwal early with debutant Shubman Gill still at the crease. The memory of being dismissed with the score at 36 in 1st Test’s second innings is still fresh in mind as only exactly a week had elapsed.
Asked what would be the visitors’ batting approach, Bumrah replied: “We are not looking too far ahead. We are looking at one session at a time. We don’t want to be conservative in our mindset and be positive. Control the controllable. Not being reckless but playing with confidence will be the motive going forward,” added the bowler, well aware of the challenge ahead.
One of the striking early moves by skipper Ajinkya Rahane was introducing spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the first hour of play. The pacer reasoned that they bowled as there was some moisture on the wicket which saw the spinners bowling in tandem and able to generate some spin.
“When we were bowling in the morning there was some moisture on the wicket, so you saw Ashwin and Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) got some spin. So we are looking at things we have to do. We don’t want to be conservative in our mindset,” said Bumrah while replying to a query from ANI.
“We are trying to be positive, you know to control the controllable. So we are just trying to be in that phase. Not being reckless but being confident and that’s our motive to go forward now,” he added.
The pace spearhead praised his teammates and said the main aim on the opening day of the second Test was to complement each other with the bowling skills.
“…because we wanted to make the most of the moisture, we were trying to use them, he (Ashwin) was getting good bounce,” Bumrah said.
Ajinkya Rahane’s field placements were praised by Shane Warne and Jasprit Bumrah said that in the second session, the bowlers altered the line knowing that pitch was becoming easier to bat on. MCG may witness spectator surge if 3rd Test is shifted from Sydney.
“We were just trying to communicate what kind of lines we wanted to bowl so that we can set the field accordingly. When there was less help, we tried to change the line accordingly,” he said.
Jasprit Bumrah, however, downplayed any suggestions about this being India’s best first day’s bowling effort overseas in Tests since he joined.
“We don’t think like that and we just wanted to create pressure from both ends. Ash bowled brilliantly and so did Siraj. We were all trying to help each other,” the speedster said.
India and Australia have played 8 Boxing Day Tests and Australia have won 5 of them while India won a solitary one in the last 2018-19 tour.
Jasprit Bumrah Praised Mohammed Siraj Who Has Worked Hard
As a senior bowler in absence of Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah was all praise for debutant Mohammed Siraj, who was decent in his first outing in the traditional format picking up 2 scalps including that of top scorer Marnus Labuschagne.
“He has worked really hard and come up the ranks. He was eager to bowl in the first session itself. There wasn’t a lot happening after lunch and he (Siraj) bowled with a lot of control,” he said.
“Suddenly he started getting some movement and wanted to make the best of it. Playing his first Test match, he bowled really well and had confidence of using all his skills.”
Teams batting on the second day have won more Test matches at the MCG but Jasprit Bumrah doesn’t want to look into statistics like that.
“We are trying to focus on things that are in our hands. The focus will be on the first session tomorrow.”
Jasprit Bumrah also brushed aside the controversial decision by TV umpire Paul Wilson, ruling rival captain Tim Paine not out despite replays showing otherwise saying these things are not in player’s control.
“Look, these are the things that we can’t control, I understand that the situations are difficult and all of these things are out of our hands, so I try not to focus on those things that we can’t control,” said Jasprit Bumrah about the decision that didn’t have much impact.
Australia managed their lowest Boxing Day Test score ever recorded while batting first-a meagre 195 fielding the same XI of the first Test.