Image Credit- PTI
With nine wickets at the end of the Visakhapatnam Test
match against England (6 for 45 and 3 for 46), Jasprit Bumrah helped India tie
the series at one. His yorker that swung into Ollie Pope and uprooted his
middle and leg stumps in the first innings was the highlight of his
performance.
“As a youngster that [the yorker] is probably the
first delivery I had learned because I had come from tennis ball cricket and I
had seen the legends of the game, Waqar [Younis], Wasim [Akram] and even Zaheer
Khan, I had seen them on the television, how do they bowl yorkers,” Bumrah
told the broadcaster after India’s 106-run victory. “As a kid I used to
feel that is the only way to take wickets. So that is the first delivery I
learned. Yes, I kept it with me and I kept on using it to my advantage and now
even in Test cricket when you get wickets off it, it’s great.”
Bumrah now has 36 wickets in six Tests in India, at an
outstanding average of 13.06 and strike rate of 29.5, but he said he wasn’t
focussed on numbers anymore. “I don’t look at numbers because when I was a
youngster I used to look at numbers. Yes, it made me excited, but you know, if
you think about numbers, there’s a lot of pressure anyway playing for India.
And if you take that added baggage, it doesn’t really help. So I’m very happy
that we won and when you contribute towards that success it feels even better.”
On the last day of the Visakhapatnam Test, Bumrah
handed India two crucial breakthroughs. First, he trapped Jonny Bairstow leg
before wicket in the last over before lunch, and then he broke an eighth wicket
partnership by bowling a catch to Ben Foakes.
When asked if he felt like the leader of India’s
attack, even though players like R Ashwin have a lot more experience than him,
Bumrah said: “Not the leader but I feel that I have played a little more
cricket. We are going through a transition. There are a lot of new bowlers
coming in. So it’s my responsibility to help them and guide them in whatever
way I can. So yeah, it’s always good that when we have certain conversations,
what do we have to do in certain scenarios, it feels great.”