Long after the dust had settled at the Hampshire Bowl on a heady Wednesday for Indian fans, Jasprit Bumrah drew praise from Virat Kohli and Hashim Amla.
The Indian skipper and South African opener, were united in their admiration for the speedster and, Amla, not someone prone to hyperbole, exclaimed: “He is one hell of a bowler!”
The man in the centre of attention, however, remained oblivious to the fast-developing halo around him. Bumrah, who grabbed two wickets and played his part in India’s triumph over South Africa in the key World Cup game, spoke to the media on Wednesday evening.
Shackling the batsmen
He stressed that the bowling unit wanted to always shackle the batsmen: “We want to create pressure as a bowling unit. Everybody chipped in. Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar) also took two wickets. Whenever they (Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal) take crucial wickets in the middle overs, it is always helpful, especially when you come back into the attack.”
Bumrah reiterated on the need for right preparation and approach: “On a wicket like this (Hampshire Bowl) you get help and then you can sometimes be tempted to try too many things. At that time, you must realise that you don’t need to do too many things, just bowling Test-match type of bowling is enough, be patient when you are getting help.
“That’s what we try to adopt and automatically the results will come. I want to do all my preparations before coming into a game. If I have done everything, in the match it is all about execution and keeping a clear head space, and that’s very important.”
The seamer prefers to stay grounded, taking it one day at a time. “I don’t think about expectations. I just think about what the team requires me to do. I don’t think I have a reputation to live up to. I just try to keep things simple, focus on the processes. If you tick all of the boxes, everything else will fall in place,” Bumrah said and signed off.
