mid-day traces the growth of pacer Jasprit Bumrah as he plays his maiden Test at home in Ahmedabad today
Jasprit Bumrah celebrates the wicket of Australia’s Pat Cummins during the second Test at Melbourne last December. Pic/Getty Images
Today’s third India v England Test is not only a special game for Ishant Sharma, who figures in his 100th Test here. His fast bowling partner Jasprit Bumrah too. The local boy will step on the Sardar Patel Cricket Stadium turf today and soak up the homely atmosphere for his first home Test.
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He last played a first-class game here in 2013.
In two Ranji Trophy matches on his home ground, Bumrah has claimed seven wickets (v Haryana [1-114] and Orissa against whom he claimed 3-80 and 3-26.
Rested for the second Test against England at Chennai, Bumrah, who claimed four wickets in the first Test, will share the pink ball for the day-night Test today with senior pro, Ishant.
Vijay Patel and Narendra Pancholi
Express pace
It’s the express pace that put Bumrah in the spotlight when he started playing on Gujarat’s local circuit.
“There was a lot of curiosity over this boy. When he started playing school and district cricket, the word spread that there is a bowler who bowls very fast and has an awkward action,” Gujarat’s state coach Vijay Patel recalled during a chat with mid-day on Tuesday.
Bumrah was immediately asked to report at the Gujarat Cricket Association’s age-group nets. “He impressed everyone with his pace and was fast-tracked into the state’s U-19 team,” said Patel.
In 2011, Bumrah first played for Gujarat in the U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy.
Ahmedabad-based journalist Narendra Pancholi, who was Bumrah’s first school coach at HB Kapadia here, recalled how the lanky pacer would trouble batsmen with pace while playing inter-school cricket in 2006. “He always had pace and his awkward action troubled cricketers of his age. I would just tell him to bowl on the stumps and he would get a wicket for sure,” said Pancholi.
Concerned mom
After a year at HB Kapadia High School, Pancholi requested Bumrah’s mother Daljit to get him admitted to Nirman High School, where his cricketing prospects would be better. “HB Kapadia School had just started cricket. He had better growth prospects elsewhere. His mother, who was a teacher in both schools would be worried that her son only plays cricket and does not focus on academics. I told her that Bumrah will at least play Ranji Trophy cricket and the income he will generate will be quite sufficient. I advised his mother to take him to another school and that’s how he joined Nirman,” said Pancholi.
Though Bumrah’s pace was the talk of the town, his slinging action was a concern. “We never tried to change his action. Yes, there were minor corrections but the coaches at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore said that we must not tinker with his natural action. The biggest concern for us was that his action would make him injury prone.
“However, he has worked on his fitness tremendously,” said Patel, a Level III coach.
Bumrah was later spotted by Mumbai Indians talent scout, the former India coach John Wright during the 2013 Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 league stage at the Motera B ground. The rest, as they say, is history.
83
No. of wickets claimed by Jasprit Bumrah in 18 Tests
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