After a long injury layoff, Jasprit Bumrah returns to Test cricket with clarity and calm, ignoring outside noise and focusing to stay in the present moment.
India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah resumed Test cricket from where he left off in Australia due to injury by carrying the Indian attack. He looked the most threatening bowler and showcased why he is the best in the business, taking a record 12th fifer outside India. Bumrah joined the ranks with former skipper and all-rounder Kapil Dev for the most five-wicket hauls by an Indian bowler away from home as the first Test against England in Leeds.
However, heading into the series, there were questions about will Bumrah would be able to bowl full throttle after an injury layoff that kept him nearly four months away from the game. The Indian pacer ensured all medical status remained close to him and his inner circle’s chest while experts believed that another such injury could prove to be his last for his career. But, the headlines didn’t impress the bowler.
The right-arm pacer mentioned that people doubted him early in his career, but he kept working hard on his skills, and destiny eventually followed suit. People first say “no,” then they say “first six months only”, but that’s how I have completed a decade in international cricket and 12-13 IPL seasons listening to all this, he noted. He also clarified that he will continue to work on himself and prepare hard, leaving the rest to god. Whatever destiny will bring to him, he will carry it forward and take Indian cricket to new heights.
Asked if he feels bad when people write his epitaph after every big injury, Bumrah replied: “I can’t control what people write, nor am I trying to teach people what to write and what not to write about me. Everybody is free to write what they want. I understand cricket is very popular in our country, and using my name in the headline boosts the viewership. But it doesn’t matter to me. I need my beliefs and my ways to dictate how I go. Not the way others want me to play.”
It seems like the recent injury changed his point of view towards his workload. He first reportedly denied the captaincy, and then confirmed to the selection committee and team management that he would play only three Tests out of five. It could have increased the sense of urgency around those games to make an impact son the series, but it doesn’t matter to him at all.
“You don’t look at what is going to happen in the future,” Bumrah said. “You are there on the ground. I’m trying to assess the wicket and what’s happening, options, who’s the batter there, and how can I outsmart him? I look at all of those things at that moment. I don’t think about how many games I will play.”
The expectations, he said, can be extra baggage, which he doesn’t want to carry. “I ask myself this question at night, did I give my absolute best?” Bumrah said. “If the answer is yes, I quietly go to sleep.”
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Bumrah finished with the figures of 5/83 during England’s first innings. He now has 14 five-wicket hauls in Tests, the second most by an Indian pacer. He dismissed both openers, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, former skipper Joe Root, Chris Woakes and Josh Tongue.
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