IND vs NZ | Process and execution more important than results, asserts Jasprit Bumrah

It has been a rough comeback to international cricket for India’s pace stalwart Jasprit Bumrah, who has found wickets hard to come by ever since his return from a back stress fracture. The speedster infamously went wicketless in the entirety of the ODI series versus the Kiwis and in the first Test in Wellington, managed to pick just a solitary wicket. His abject performance in the first Test meant that he was the recipient of a lot of criticism, with people questioning whether he would ever be the same bowler post his back injury.

The speedster, however, bounced back in style on the morning of Day 2 in Christchurch, and accounted for three important scalps, including that of Kane Williamson, bamboozling the visitors with his movement and pace. But despite the mixed bag performance, the 26-year-old asserted that he was least bothered by the results and was more focused on the process and execution, which he feels holds the key to success. The pacer stated that it was important to just focus on the task at hand and not take the intangibles into account. 

"I don't look at my personal performances. I only look at my preparation - whether my body is feeling fine, whether my execution is fine. I know wickets will come, somedays it will and somedays it won't. I look at execution. If my execution is fine, I'm feeling fine. Somedays it will come off and somedays it won't. So in that aspect, I'm feeling fine,” Bumrah said in the post-match press conference.

"The key is to do all the (preparation and) processes well, to look to bowl well and look to create pressure. I'll get wickets some days and the other day, some other bowler would take wickets. But my focus is always on what I could do. If there's some problem in execution or if the mindset is not correct, then you address that. You don't focus on the result, you focus on the process and the things that you can control.”

After New Zealand started the day on 63/0, the Indian pacers - led by Bumrah and Shami - pulled off a sensational comeback to help the side take a seven-run lead over the hosts. The good work done by the bowlers was, however, undone by the batsmen, who found themselves tottering at 90/6 at the end of the day’s play, putting the team in a precarious position. Bumrah stated that it would not be fair to blame the batsmen for the team’s shortcoming and emphasized that it will be important for the team to add as many runs as possible in the morning of Day 3. 

"We don't play the blame game. We as a team, obviously want to do well. We are pushing hard, we worked very hard as well, but the situation is what it is. We've got two batsmen left. We'll look to push tomorrow as well. We can try and work hard and try to score as many as we can and then we'll see how it goes."

The second Test in Christchurch also marks Bumrah’s 15th professional game since his comeback from the stress fracture and the 26-year-old reasserted that he was back to full fitness and expressed his happiness on being able to contribute to the team’s success. 

"My body is fine. I came back in January. I was fine, that is why I came back - I was feeling good, I started playing cricket again. Very happy to be back,  very happy to be playing all formats again and trying to contribute to the team's success."