For someone who produced one magical delivery after another to record his best figures in India, Jasprit Bumrah feels there is no need to search for magic when the ball is reversing.
The 30-year-old was an artist at work on day two of the second Test against England as he got the ball to reverse in three destructive spells across the last two sessions to end up with figures of six for 45 in 15.5 overs. It was largely due to his exploits that the hosts managed to clean up England for 253 and gain a substantial 143-run first-innings lead. The wily operator got the rewards for reverse swing in the series opener too but on Saturday, he operated at an even higher level.
The way he set up the likes of Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ollie Pope by getting the ball to move both ways before trapping them was a treat to watch. It wasn't a surprise that the video clip of the booming inswinging yorker to Castle Pope was circulated widely on social media. Bumrah matter-of-factly takes his failure and success and it was no different when asked about his bowling effort in the post-day media interaction.
"In first class cricket, if you want to take wickets in India, you have to learn to bowl reverse swing. Probably, I learned to bowl reverse swing before the conventional swing because you play a lot of cricket on slow wickets," said Bumrah. "So you understand what you have to do over here. You have to find a way, what are the areas that you have to hit? So, yeah, in the nets, you practice all of those skills and try and execute (to get wickets)."
On his thought process before bamboozling Pope, Bumrah said, "At that time, the ball was relatively hard. So yes, there was some reverse swing. In reverse swing, you don’t have to bowl magical deliveries every ball. So I had bowled a few away-going deliveries and then there was a thought going on in my head that what do I bowl? I should bowl a length delivery coming in or should I go for a yorker? But I had not bowled a yorker till then. I thought okay might as well take a chance with that and it did swing a lot. The execution was good, very happy with that."
The away swingers worked against Root and Bairstow, who were anticipating the ball to come back in. Bumrah doesn’t like to rate his performances but considering the stage of the game, both those wickets were extremely important. "I’m still playing, so hopefully more deliveries will come in my way. That phase was very important. To get Root and Pope at that time was very important for us because you understand that wicket does not do a lot and the wicket was a little on the slower side," he said.
For the second game in a row, England skipper Ben Stokes wore a bewildered look after being undone by Bumrah’s brilliance. What was that expression all about? "I don’t know what Stokes was thinking but I attempted an outswing but the ball went straight so I think maybe he had seen the shine and thought the ball would go away but it came in straight and he got bowled. We know he is a dangerous batsman at that moment when he bats with the lower-order as he bats with freedom and takes lot of chances," said Bumrah.
He has plenty of variations up his sleeve and the world has witnessed that especially in the shorter formats but Bumrah says one must understand the importance of patience in the five-day version of the game. "Test cricket teaches you patience, isn’t’ it? When you try and bowl magical deliveries now and then, it doesn’t work. Even if you have everything you don’t need to use everything at one particular time. You understand what is working today and what is the need of the hour. Try to focus on the now. Earlier, if I have thought about taking six wickets, it has never worked for me. I have a lot of deliveries and you can confuse yourself. You need to shut that noise and focus on the next ball," he added.
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