Remarkably patient

No one who saw Jasprit Bumrah fuss over his little baby boy at the Perth airport on Wednesday morning wouldnrsquot have been amazed at the transformation in the man when he holds a cricket ball of any colour in his right hand The doting father to Angad not yet 15 months old reclaimed his rightful status as the No 1 destroyer in the latest ICC rankings for Test bowlers but such tags however prestigious they might be donrsquot necessarily appeal to himComplete dominationMore than anything else Bumrah enjoys the art of bowling Of taking wickets sure but also of setting batters up Of working them over Of pitting his skills against theirs Of looking for ways and means to eke out an advantage even in the most battingfriendly of conditions Of subtly without verbals or histrionics letting the batters know who the boss isAlso ReadTeam India visits Parliament to meet Australian PM Anthony AlbaneseThe Player of the Match award for his demolition job in the first Test against Australia in Perth is the latest feather in a Bumrah cap fast running out of space Entrusted with the additional responsibility of manning the wheel in the absence of Rohit Sharma Bumrah was in his elements as leader as well as fast bowler supreme not just going about his own business without fuss but also getting the others including a slew of firsttime entrants to Test cricket in Australia to lift themselves and rise to the occasionHis mastery of the Australian top order was evident in his newball spells in both innings In the first post tea on Day One after India were bowled out for 150 he evicted Nathan McSweeney Usman Khawaja and the celebrated Steve Smith mdash first ball no less mdash before one could say Optus Stadium That set the foundation for Indiarsquos 46run lead In the second with the result more or less a formality once his batters had extended Indiarsquos overall advantage to 533 he ensured there was not even artificial excitement by dismissing McSweeney again and the beleaguered Marnus Labuschagne on the third eveningWhat does one say of Bumrah that hasnrsquot already been said His predatory instincts mdash only when he has the cricket ball mdash are second to none and he is a smart commonsensical thinking fast bowler who for all his immense skills is also remarkably patient Bowling in Test cricket isnrsquot about going looking for wickets every ball no matter how much of a genius resides in one lithe frame Having exhorted his young pace attack not to overreach and embrace desperation in the first innings Bumrah showed the way when it came to being disciplined and to hitting the right lengths on a track which even when it slowed up encouraged more bounce than most Indian surfacesMaster of lengthBumrah accounted for McSweeney and Smith leg before in the first knock no mean accomplishment for an Indian bowler in these conditions Bumrah has played at the Optus before but that was six years ago To be able to zero in on the right length instantaneously was as impressive as his unyielding grip over Australiarsquos batters Having poked the beast Australia will be wary of what else is in store over the next six weeks