On days when your yorkers are out of place variations become saviour, reveals Jasprit Bumrah
Speaking about his bag of tricks, Jasprit Bumrah shared that variations help out a bowler in dire times when the stock ball isn’t landing right. The India quick recalled his comical dismissal of Englishman Keaton Jennings with a viscous inswinger revealing that he believed in his own skill set.
After spending four months on the sidelines nursing an injury, Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is all set to return in the Sri Lanka series. What makes the quick a lethal bowler is the bag of tricks the speedster has in addition to his troubling pace and unorthodox action.
Bumrah believes that having tricks up the arm in modern day cricket is a lifeline for every bowler. The pacer feels that variations are not only wicket taking options but also the saviour for bowlers when their stock ball isn’t landing right.
“I always like to have new things up my sleeve. If you’ve got only two or three tricks, then you’re stuck. Some days you go in with a fixed agenda; you think, at the end, I’m just going to bowl yorkers and slower balls. But on that day, if your yorkers are out of place—and your opponents know you will bowl slower balls and are waiting for it—then you need a good bouncer, right? If you’ve got a very good length ball. Or a wide yorker, a wide slower ball…oh! I’ve got so many options,” Bumrah told Hindustan Times.
Bumrah relived the wicket of England opener Keaton Jennings which was one to cherish for any speedster. Jennings was castled by a vicious inswinger having left the ball in the fourth Test of the series. An inswinger to a left handed was something, many believed, Bumrah isn’t capable of bowling. But the pacer believed in his skill set, practised it relentlessly and set up the batsman for an embarrassing dismissal.
“I had heard a Sky Sports commentator saying that I don’t have the in-swinger to the left hander, so the left hander can leave the ball outside off stump, they don’t have to play, In my head, I knew that I had the in-swinger. I thought if the players are listening, and if they don’t know that I have it," said Bumrah.
“So, I bowl 2-3 deliveries that move out and I see that Jennings was just leaving the ball without even, you know, giving it a thought. I realised now, this is the time. In England, it helps as well because the ball actually swings!"