"He’ll play for 6 months, 7 months" - Jasprit Bumrah recalls people's initial impression due to his bowling action amid success in BGT 2024-25
Team India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has recalled how anyone hardly backed him to make it through several years as a fast bowler, given his bowling action. Bumrah claimed he has largely been self-reliant and found solutions on his own, claiming that the self-belief has worked brilliantly for him.
The 31-year-old burst into the scene in 2016 and made his Test debut two years later. With an average of below 20 in Tests and T20Is, the right-arm speedster is now among the best across formats. Batters around the globe have cited his unique release point as the reason behind their struggles against Bumrah.
Speaking to Mark Howard for Fox Cricket, Bumrah suggested that plenty of people gave him input and didn't see any merit in his skills. Hence, the 31-year-old reckons the self-reliance worked in his favor, explaining:
"I don’t think a lot of people believed in me because they thought that this bowling action will not last for long. He’ll play for six months, seven months. So not really a lot of people worked on me or, you know, gave me inputs that, you know, I think this is useful or you should stop doing that because. I don’t think they saw a lot of merit. I think that worked out in my favour because. I was self-reliant then and I had to have a lot of self-belief and find out solutions on my own."
"So yes, nobody tried to change me, but nobody gave any extra solutions. So that worked out for the best in the greater interest, but then that helped me develop, you know, relying on yourself and having the self-belief. So I think that worked out brilliantly for me," Bumrah added.
Bumrah also revealed that he didn't get formal coaching and learned all his skills by watching the sport.
I started my cricket quite late. I was not a tearaway quick because at six, seven, I didn’t play cricket. I started cricket with the season ball probably at 16, 17. So I watched the television and picked up cricket. I’d got no formal coaching ever. So I learned everything through the television and, you know, somehow picked up cues and kept on finding my own solutions. So that’s worked with me till date that, you know, I come into a setup. I rely on my own instincts and gut. So yeah, that’s how I picked up," he said.
The ongoing tour of Australia saw Bumrah captain India in Perth. He led from the front, cutting through Australia's top order on Day 1, and eventually finished with eight wickets in the match to script a 295-run win for the tourists.
"Initially, I did run a lot more" - Jasprit Bumrah on his short run-up
With Bumrah's short run-up to the crease supposedly responsible for his pace, the right-arm speedster revealed that he aborted the longer one to conserve energy to send down longer spells.
"When I used to play cricket as a youngster, there used to be benches over there. So I couldn’t go any further than that. So I couldn’t go through that. So that was the limit that we had. So we used to keep it as a boundary. So I used to run in from there. So when I came into serious cricket, I tried to run more," he added in the same interaction.
"Initially, I did run a lot more, but it used to have no difference to my pace. It used to stay the same. So at that time, I thought, okay, might as well conserve some energy for bowl faster for a long period of time. So I had this and it did, it made no difference to my bowling. So, I thought I’ll keep it with me," Bumrah said.
The 31-year-old will be next in action when India face Australia in the third Test in Brisbane.