New Delhi: India’s strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah’s return from lower back stress injury after an 11-month layoff has not allowed cricket to move on from him, thanks to his brilliance with the ball. His comeback to action has been seamless with him clocking magical figures first in the Asia Cup, and now building a top bowler reputation in the latest edition of the World Cup.
Since his return to the middle, Bumrah has played 11 matches, taken 24 wickets, and has been striking a magically robust economy rate of 4.3 runs an over. His propensity to strike early in the game, thus giving India a solid platform to mount its memorable chases on, has become an expected and much-needed spoke in the strategy wheel. Living up to his reputation of being an early striker, Bumrah made the breakthrough against Australia in his second over and followed it up with a third-over wicket against Afghanistan in Delhi.
His dream figures of four wickets at an economy rate of 4.9 at Kotla has set the stage for him to go for the kill against the big one coming up against eternal rivals Pakistan. However, Bumrah, who generally plays down his accomplishments, and the pace and seam he can create with the ball, said for him it is more about going into any match with preparation.
“I am not result-oriented. Just because I have taken four wickets, that doesn't mean I am very happy or I have done something extraordinary. I just go with my preparation. I go with the process that I feel is right. I try to read the wickets and try to find the best answers that work on that wicket,” he
said at a post-match interaction.
At the Arun Jaitley Stadium the other night, Bumrah was productive in all the three spells he was brought in by his skipper. As an opening bowler, he struck early and then followed it up with another wicket on a slower ball in his second spell and topped this up with death over twin strikes in one over that ultimately stymied the Afghan burst of runs.
“I am not thinking about results because I've got results today so, I'm very good – that doesn't work in my book. I try to back my strengths, try to read the wicket, and try to give my best,” he said.
Bumrah’s brilliance peeped through the way he bowled across three spells under conditions that weren't easy for seamers. He dealt with the new ball differently and handled the old ball with another approach, tailoring his three spells with wicket-taking balls on a pitch that was a belter. Bumrah’s versatility came to the fore against Afghanistan, but he played down the tough conditions at what has proved to be the batters' haven in Delhi.
“We have played a few games in the afternoon. Out of all the afternoon venues, today (in Delhi) was actually not too bad. It was a little breezy, it was not very hot. So, I would take this day in terms of weather for sure,” he said. Bumrah is the undisputed king of death-bowling, and he peppers his other spells with stunning variations. Precision yorkers, bouncers, hard-length balls, slower ones – these are some of his favourite weapons. But it is his ability to read the wicket and get the maximum out of it in the most dismal of circumstances that makes him the man among the boys.
“In this format, you must understand what is working. So, some days there would swing and your lengths will change. But this wicket was quite a batting track. There was a bit of seam, but the ball was coming onto the bat well from the first over. So, we just tried to hit the hard length, make it as difficult as possible, and push them to hit difficult shots,” he explained.
It's been over a month and a half since Bumrah returned to the middle. But ask him if he is getting better with every game and he flicks the question aside as he would a rare wide from him. “I am a detached person. I don't know what's going around in the world. I look at my preparations. I just look at what I have to do on that day and obviously read the game and my strengths. That’s what has worked for me in the past and will keep going forward,” he said.
Bumrah’s brilliance stems from his ability to focus, stay alone in a crowd, and be a veritable loner thinking about his job and his delivery targets. The inherent simpleton that he is, gives him that sorted edge that many of his global colleagues fail to weave in. Though it may seem that Bumrah keeps a docket of the batters who beat him in a previous game to somehow get them in the next, but he attributes it to playing a huge amount of cricket, “I don't even remember a lot of the games that happened. Obviously, you keep learning from your past experiences. But I don't keep a tab on what's happened, what's happening, or that somebody's got the better of me,” he insisted.
Bumrah now goes into his home state and the first thing he will do on touchdown is meet his mother. “The first basic thing for me is to go and see my mother at home. I've been away for a while now,” said the star bowler, who is yet to play an ODI match at Motera. “I have played a Test match there,” he said, adding that the atmosphere is going to be exciting. I’m sure a lot of people are going to come. So, it will be a sight to see. Hoping for the best,” he said in his own casual way, hiding his constantly ticking intent with the ball that will be the most crucial in his hand against Pakistan in Motera.
As for an eye on the net run rate game that has just started flowering in this World Cup, Bumrah said it was not on the team spectrum one bit at Delhi where Team India defeated Afghanistan with 15 overs to spare. “We were not looking at net run rate from the beginning and we did not know that Rohit will give us such a head start. I don't think there was any conversation this early in the tournament,” he said. India stands second on the overall points table in the section of net run rate, below New Zealand.
