bowler and his stock is rising as a front-runner” decoding=”async” fetchpriority=”high”/>He praised the younger members and praised the captain Rohit Sharma and punch talisman Virat Kohli. The smile on Jasprit BumrahWhen he addressed the media in Perth, his face was almost as big, if not bigger, than India's winning margin of 295 runs.
Appropriately named player of the match, Bumrah had said on the eve of the match that even as a child, he loved doing difficult things and loved being a problem solver.
Border Gavaskar Trophy
India had a lot of problems in Perth. They fielded two debutant all-rounders Nitish Reddy and pacer Harshit Rana, a seemingly out-of-form batting legend in Kohli, a struggling opener in KL Rahul, a first-time Australia opener in Yashasvi Jaiswal. They also battled the wounds of a 3-0 loss to the Kiwis at home.
But Bumrah rose to the challenge. “We're a new team, so I wanted to put myself in difficult situations when we needed to do something to make the job a little easier for the new guys,” he said. And do something like he did.
His opening delivery of 6-3-9-3 opened the game after India were bowled out for 150 and also showed the younger bowlers how to bowl on bouncy wickets. An impressive 93 from BumrahThe 181 Test wickets are either bowled or leg-before.
In Australia he has 40 wickets at an obscene average of 18.80 and 22 of his 40 at bats have been bowled or leg-before. At Optus he received three leg suggestions. Compare it to the Australian bowlers. Their pitch map suggested that only 6.4% of deliveries hit the stumps in the 134.3 overs they bowled. His message to the inexperienced attack was: “Aim for the stumps”.
“There could be a scenario in Perth if you come from India where the bounce isn't as pronounced and you bowl short because you're excited about the bounce and can't find the length. It looks good when you throw a back-of.” “The batsman is beaten, but he's still there. We knew we had enough in the wicket to help us,” said Bumrah.
One of Bumrah's great skills is the ability to read conditions and situations and that's what he tried to convey to the bowlers on the first night. “Sometimes you can get too desperate and go after the pole when you are eliminated because of a lower score. If you try too hard here, it won’t help and your running score will go up.”
Praising debutants Reddy and Rana, Bumrah said, “The biggest positive was that they were not nervous. It didn’t feel like it was their first time playing in Australia.”
Bumrah also praised opener Jaiswal. “If I had to pick a man of the match it would be Jaiswal. That was his best Test shot. He has an attacking nature, but in the second inning he left certain balls, he took his time and hit deep. “He showed that he has patience and is willing to adapt and change,” Bumrah said.
