India’s spearhead Jasprit Bumrah produced an outstanding performance yet again after the doubters flocked the place following the Johannesburg Test. But Bumrah had a composed reply for his critics as he understands that there will be polarizing opinions about his bowling, and losing his sleep over outside noise is of no use.
Bumrah claimed his seventh five-wicket haul in Test cricket at Cape Town, where he returned with the figures of five for 42. His five-for helped India get a crucial first innings lead of 13 runs as India bowled South Africa out for 210. When asked about whether the outside noise affects the team in any way, the 28-year-old said:
“Nothing out of the ordinary and I wasn’t giving extra attention. I was not really too angry and I was focussed on the present and did what I had to.”
The fast bowler said that he tries to bring perspective into his game and try to not pay attention to what is not in his control. This isn’t surprising as Bumrah has usually been a level-headed person on and off the field.
“There will be doubters and there will be people praising you and that is something that an individual has to decide. I don’t really pay attention to outside noise as it doesn’t really help.”
The pacer was previously criticised heavily for his performance in the World Test Championship final against New Zealand. He came back strong in the following series against England, picking 18 wickets from four games at 20.83 apiece. Bumrah was the driving force behind India taking a 2-1 lead in the series.
As far as the third Test is concerned, India have found themselves in a strong position at the end of the second day. They are leading by 70 runs with eight wickets in hand. Bumrah refused to give any magical number that would challenge the Proteas but said that this is a flatter track and batting gets easier.
“It is a new ball wicket, it swings with the new ball and as seam goes down, batting becomes relatively easy. We have seen that trend and we will try to stitch up a partnership and capitalise from there on.”
Incidentally, Bumrah had made his Test debut at Cape Town back in 2018 and in a way, that moment ignited India’s journey towards becoming one the best touring side.
Normally a bowler’s development is directly linked to the faith the captain shows in him. When asked about how much credit does the captain Kohli should get, Bumrah said:
“Bowler’s development also depends on how hard the bowler works as well.”
Earlier, Mohammed Shami had also said the individual should get the credit for putting in hard yards. Bumrah, however, did say that Kohli brings in a lot of energy into the squad and motivates the players.
Bumrah has already itched his name amongst the best pacer India has ever produced and has all the potential to end up as India’s greatest ever. The premier pacer has 112 wickets to his credit from 27 Tests at an average of 22.58.
