Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is currently his team’s highest-wicket taker in the ongoing series against England with 16 victims to his name and only behind Ollie Robinson who has picked up 21 wickets so far.
Bumrah, who started off more as a limited-overs specialist has transformed into an all-rounder bowler for India across formats. There were questions marks over his ability to make it big so quickly especially considering his unique bowling action.
But for Bumrah, it’s an action that has always felt comfortable.
“I learned cricket from watching television. I didn’t get any formal coaching so I used to copy everybody’s actions. This did not come naturally but later on, I don’t know what jumbled up and I ended up with this one. But it didn’t give me a lot of pain in the body so I thought, ‘Okay if it’s not troubling me, I’ll use it to my advantage.’” Bumrah told Dinesh Karthik in an interview with Sky Sports.
“I was lucky that wherever I went, the coaches didn’t try to tamper with it and only advised me to work on my body and everything else will be taken care of. I tried to keep things simple that if there’s some physical discomfort, and I am not able to execute what I want to, then only I need to change things,” the 27-year-old added.
Bumrah also spoke about his selection for Mumbai Indians.
“I was just selected for the T20 competition, and that was just my second game and it was against Mumbai. So, John Wright had come to watch Axar. I didn’t know I would get picked. I didn’t pick a lot of wickets, I just picked one but I bowled really well, I didn’t give a lot of runs,” Bumrah said.
“So, he came to watch one more game. He enquired and PP (Parthiv Patel) told me that he was asking about me. I thought he was clearly joking and making fun of me. After a few days, I got a call from the Mumbai Indians and they asked me, ‘Are you interested?’ I said, ‘Of course, I am interested, that’s not even a question. Are you guys interested?’,” he added.
Watch Bumrah’s full interview with Dinesh Karthik for Sky Sports below:
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