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Jasprit Bumrah’s red ball exploits will always be his
yardstick for success since “Test cricket is king.” The 32-test
vet is the most seasoned player in India’s pace attack, which will be
deployed in Hyderabad for the first of five Test matches against England
beginning on January 25. It will just be his fifth home Test if he plays, as he
ought to.
“I am of that generation where Test cricket is
king,” Bumrah told The Guardian. “I will always judge myself on it.
Yes, I started with IPL, but I learned to bowl through first-class cricket;
that’s where I developed my skill, the art of taking wickets. In Test cricket
you have to get the batsman out and that challenges you as a bowler.”
Bumrah will be playing in his second full series
following his recovery from a stress fracture that kept him out of action for
more than a year. In the two Tests held in South Africa, he claimed 12 wickets,
including a match-winning 6 for 61 at Cape Town that enabled India to tie the
series at one.
In recent times, surfaces that are predicted to
encourage spin would not provide Bumrah with much help. When England last
toured in February and March of 2021, he bowled just 48 overs and participated
in just two of the four Test matches. The amount of work he will have this time
around will only become clear with time, but he is eager to take on the
challenge once more.
“T20s, ODIs, some days you might send down five
slower balls and get five guys out, when in a Test match they wouldn’t have
taken one,” he explained. “There is no luck in Test cricket, the
better team wins, you cannot take 20 wickets through luck. I was never happy
with just white-ball cricket and Test cricket is still the utmost format for
me.”
The last time Bumrah faced England, in July 2022 in
Birmingham, he was the captain of India, and he was the victim of their new,
more aggressive style of Test match batting.
When asked what he thought of the strategy, Bumrah
replied that although he “doesn’t really relate to,” he is pleased
about “Bazball” since it keeps bowlers like him competitive and in
the running at all times.
“I don’t really relate to the term Bazball,”
he said. “But they are playing successful cricket and the aggressive route
of taking the opposition on, showing the world there’s another way to play Test
cricket.
“As a bowler, what I think is that it keeps me in
play. And if they’re going for it, playing so fast, they won’t tire me out, I
could get heaps [of wickets]. I always think about how I can use things to my
advantage. Kudos to them but, as a bowler, you’re in the game.”