Bumrah: Bazball could get me ‘heaps of wickets’-
Bumrah: Bazball could get me ‘heaps of wickets’
Jasprit Bumrah’s career will always be measured by his achievements with the red ball, since “Test cricket is king.”
The 32-Test veteran is the most seasoned member of India’s pace attack. Which will play the opening of five Tests against England in Hyderabad on January 25.
If he enters the field, as he should, it will be his sixth home test.
“I am of that generation where Test cricket is king,” Bumrah told The Guardian. “I’ll always condemn myself for that.
Yes, I began with the IPL, but I learnt to bowl in first-class cricket, which is where I honed my technique, the ability of taking wickets.
In Test cricket, you have to get the batsman out, which tests you as a bowler.
The forthcoming series will be Bumrah’s second full series after recovering from a stress fracture that kept him out for more than a year.
Bumrah may not get much help from the surface on recently projected spin-friendly conditions. He appeared in only two of England’s four Tests and bowled 48 overs on their most recent visit (February-March 2021).
Only time will tell how much work he’ll have to do this time, but it’s a challenge he’s eager to take on again.
“T20s, ODIs, some days you might send down five slower balls and get five guys out, when in a Test match they wouldn’t have taken one,” the cricketer said. “
There is no luck in Test cricket; the better side wins, and you cannot take 20 wickets by chance. I was never satisfied with simply white-ball cricket, and Test cricket remains my preferred format.”
Bumrah was on the receiving end of England’s new ultra-aggressive style to Test match batting the last time he faced them, at Birmingham in July 2022, when he also led India.
The Test is memorable for various reasons, not the least of which being Bumrah setting a modest batting record by hitting Stuart Broad for 29 in a 35-run over.
With the ball, however, India stumbled as they failed to defend 378, with Jonny Bairstow. And Joe Root ‘bazballing’ their way to hundreds in an unbroken 269-run partnership to secure victory. Crushing India’s chances of winning their first Test series in England since 2007.
When asked about his opinions on the strategy, Bumrah stated ‘Bazball’ is something he “doesn’t really relate to”. But is enthusiastic about it since it keeps bowlers like him in the game and in contention at all times.
“I don’t really relate to the term Bazball,” he told me. “But they are playing effective cricket and taking an aggressive approach to the opposition. Demonstrating to the world that there is another way to play Test cricket.
“As a bowler, I believe that it keeps me in play. And if they go for it and play so rapidly, they won’t wear me out; I may get a lot of wickets.
I’m always thinking about how I can utilize things to my advantage. Congratulations to them, but as a bowler, you are in the game.”
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