Jasprit Bumrah played his most of the IPL games under Rohit Sharma's captaincy. The Rohit-Bumrah duo was a central part of Mumbai Indians' five title-winning years and Bumrah said he knew how to control low-scoring matches. Team India restricted arch-rivals Pakistan to 113 for the loss of seven wickets after posting a target of 120 runs
Jasprit Bumrah (Pic: File Pic)
Lead Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah couldn't help but laugh about how the narrative about him has changed in a year. In the year 2022, the pacer underwent surgery for his lower back and missed the T20 World Cup held in Australia. Later while making a return to the game, Bumrah suffered a strain which made him sit outside for more than 10 months. People became doubting about his ability to handle the workload of all three formats.
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But Indian cricket's rare gem sealed the lips of 'Doubting Thomases' with 67 wickets across three formats in the last year, including a match-winning 3/14 against Pakistan in the low-scoring T20 World Cup 2024 thriller on Sunday.
"See a year ago, the same people were saying that I might not play again and my career is over and then now the question changed," he said taking a shot at all those who doubted his ability to fight back.
Team India restricted arch-rivals Pakistan to 113 for the loss of seven wickets after posting a target of 120 runs. Jasprit Bumrah played a crucial role in India sealing a six-run victory. The pacer bagged three wickets for 14 runs in four overs. He understands the fickle nature of criticism and knows that despite being a cliched phrase, controlling the controllables works best for him.
Also Read: T20 World Cup 2024, IND vs PAK: Key highlights from the match
"For me, I am not looking at whether I am bowling at the best of my ability. I try to solve the problem that is there in front of me. I know it's a cliched answer...but I was trying to focus on what is the best option over here on a wicket like this," the 30-year-old revealed.
"How do I make shot-making difficult? What are the best options for me? So that way, I try to stay in the present and focus on what I have to do."
External pressure can take over in such high-voltage games, but Bumrah creates his own bubble to avoid the outside noise affecting his performances.
"Because if I look at the outside noise, if I look at people and pressure and emotion takes over, then things don't really work for me," the 30-year-old explained.
The recently concluded IPL 2024 saw 1260 sixes being hit on the Indian wickets. The inclusion of the "Impact Player" rule also led the top-quality bowlers to be smashed for maximums.
"When it's bat vs bat, I switch off the TV. I have been a fan of bowling since childhood. When there is a challenge between bat and ball, that is the game I like," Bumrah said.
But the Indian bowling unit that has come for the T20 World Cup 2024 hasn't shown any scars of the IPL. "Obviously, the IPL that we played was not very bowler-friendly but we are very happy that we didn't come here with that baggage and when we are getting help here, we were trying to use it.
"I have played a lot of cricket in my young years. - when the bat and ball challenge is good it is more interesting to watch the match."
Also Read: T20 World Cup 2024, IND vs PAK: Another thrilling chapter in the greatest rivalry!
Jasprit Bumrah played his most of the IPL games under Rohit Sharma's captaincy. The Rohit-Bumrah duo was a central part of Mumbai Indians' five title-winning years and Bumrah said he knew how to control low-scoring matches.
"So, once we started, we were very clear the message in the huddle was that now that is over, what is next? What are the things that are in our control? So, we will try to focus on that and not to create panic because yes, there will be boundaries here and there."
"People might play good shots, but we'll have to try and be composed and try to hold our shape. So that was the biggest positive, not at any stage did I feel that the panic had spread in the team and we were looking too far ahead. So that's a really positive sign for us."
Low-scoring matches often force bowlers to try effort deliveries like yorkers or bouncers but Bumrah doesn't want anyone to overdo that stuff. "If we go for magic deliveries and try to be too desperate, run-making becomes easy and they know the target. So, we had to be very mindful of not overdoing it," he said.
"Whenever there is help, you can get excited. You can try pole-hunting bowl bouncers, out-swingers, in-swingers. But you don't have to do that. I have learned that.
"But this time, it was not happening a lot. The ball was not doing a lot. Yes, we did create pressure. A little bit of lateral movement was there but not too much, not as pronounced as the last game."
As one of the greatest pacers active currently, Bumrah could well be called the leader of the 'Fast Bowlers' Union'. "I always advocate bowlers, but we're very happy with the appreciation that bowlers have received because our country is obviously a batsman-loving country and we understand but we are very happy that bowlers are coming up front," Bumrah said.
(With PTI Inputs)
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