Jasprit Bumrah began his Indian Premier League (IPL) career with the Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2013. Jasprit Bumrah’s unorthodox action drew instant attention in the cricket fraternity and his stock rose, courtesy of his consistent performances with the ball.
In the previous edition of the tournament, he broke into the list of top-10 highest wicket-takers in IPL and currently stands at 10th position with 130 dismissals to his name in 106 matches.
His brilliant performances for MI eventually paved the way for international selection in 2016. Over the years, Jasprit Bumrah cemented his place as one of the few all-format players in the team and is widely regarded as one of the most lethal fast bowlers in international cricket.
Jasprit Bumrah Recalls Troubling Ricky Ponting At Nets Which Paved the Way For His Debut For Mumbai Indians
During a conversation with fellow Indian teammate and leading off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah opened up on his first call-up to the Mumbai Indians camp. The 28-year-old revealed that he had troubled Ricky Ponting with his deliveries during a net session.
“Basically, I had gone into the Mumbai Indians camp and I was not going to play the first game because I and Axar Patel had joined the camp late. We were playing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. We had been called late to the camp,” Bumrah began.
“The team was already practicing in Bangalore and we practiced with the team only for two days. Over there, the practice wickets were very green, and back then in 2013, the white ball used to swing. So, I was bowling with the new ball.
“I was bowling to Ricky Ponting and I used to bowl those big inswingers. I troubled everyone and I got him (Ponting) out two or three times, so they had a discussion on me that ‘this guy had something different and let’s play him’,” Bumrah said on Ashwin’s official YouTube channel.
Jasprit Bumrah came into the limelight after his sensational debut season with Mumbai Indians in 2013, the pace spearhead instantly got attention for his unorthodox action and toe-crushing yorkers. He went to make his international debut in 2016 and is one of the best fast bowlers in recent times across formats.
Jasprit Bumrah has revealed that he got Ricky Ponting out 2-3 times before making his IPL debut. Ricky Ponting was the captain of the side at the start of IPL 2013. Jasprit Bumrah first played for MI in a league stage game against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2013. Even though he was released by MI the next year, the franchise roped him again. He has never been in an IPL auction since then
Jasprit Bumrah Didn’t Realize He Had An Unorthodox Bowling Action
The fast bowler further admitted that he never realized that he had an unorthodox action until then.
“I didn’t realize that the action was that fascinating and eventually, people started to analyse that. But for me, as I told you, I was more interested in getting new things. I have that big inswinger but I didn’t have that outswinger.
“Since childhood, I wanted to be able to bowl all deliveries. I enjoyed all of those deliveries as a child, I was never interested in watching big sixes or high-scoring games. I was interested in watching stumps being rattled, people getting hit. But yes, not getting seriously hit!” said Bumrah.
Jasprit Bumrah’s loyal association with Mumbai Indians continues as the franchise retained him ahead of the upcoming season. The 28-year-old has been one of the most consistent pacers in IPL history since his debut as he has claimed 130 wickets in 106 matches.
In 2018, he was retained for a mega sum of Rs 7 crore. MI retained him for Rs 12 crore before IPL 2022 mega auction.