Jasprit Bumrah revealed it was Rohit Sharma who came up with the idea of bowling a slower one ahead of the last delivery before lunch. The one that got Shaun Marsh.
He said here after a sensational spell on Friday, “So, last ball before lunch, Rohit was there at mid-off and he told me ‘You can try a slow ball like you bowl in one-day cricket.’ So, I thought ‘yeah, I could give it a go’.”
Bumrah added, “Nothing was really happening and maybe a slower ball could work. So, I wanted to try that, the execution of the slow yorker was good on the day. Really happy.”
Ranji experience
Bumrah whose six wickets — his third five-wicket haul in Tests — included a burst of three wickets for one run in 1.5 overs after tea, said, “The ball was reversing a lot, and we were thinking of exploiting it as we have the experience of bowling in these conditions in the Ranji Trophy.”
He agreed the yorker was an under-rated delivery in Test cricket but added, “Bowling the yorker takes a lot out of you. You can also go for runs. So you have to use it judiciously.”
Bumrah did not have any particular target for Australia in mind. “We will add as many as we can and back ourselves to defend the total,” he said.
He observed there was less lateral movement for the pacemen here than in South Africa and England.
On his long association with India bowling coach Bharat Arun, Bumrah said, “First time when I went to the NCA, he was there and he saw my action. I have been lucky in that he didn’t want to change my action and always believed that with this action I had to become stronger. He worked on my control.”
Pat Cummins, who scalped four in a dramatic burst late in the evening, said Australia was still in with a chance. “If we knock them over in the morning, you just never know. The wicket is still pretty good."
Cummins dares to dream
He added, “Last year we batted really well on days four and five [at the MCG], so you dare to dream."
Cummins defended the Australian batting line-up. “It’s still a young batting group... they're trying their best. It's always going to be hard missing two of your best players. For India, they [Kohli and Pujara] have had such a big impact on the series so far.”
