Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah preached the importance of repetition and pushing oneself as a bowler to an aspiring fast bowler, saying that one can never be fresh while playing Test cricket and should keep pushing himself or herself in the nets and repeat the tricks they want to learn since the human body has muscle memory. Bumrah will be seen in action during the fourth Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) from Thursday onwards. He is the leading wicket-taker in the series so far, with 21 scalps in three matches at an average of 10.90, with best figures of 6/76. He has taken two five-wicket hauls in the series.
In a video posted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Bumrah could be seen explaining to a bowler that one can never feel fresh while playing Tests and what should be a bowler’s mindset.
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“Some days you would be tired. On game day, you will be tired as well. So you have to push yourself some days in the nets as well. Because in the game, you will be tired. You will never be fresh all the time if you play Tests,” he said.
“What works for you? When I have taken wickets, how have I taken wickets? How was I feeling? What was my body feeling like? So all of those things, I keep that in mind. I write it down and try to replicate that mindset again and again. Every game will not go well. But then if you have that balance, more often than not, you are able to execute,” he added.
Bumrah revealed to the aspiring bowler that he used to practice every day after doing something again and again, one’s body gets a muscle memory of it.
“So this sport is all about volume. Initially, you want to learn anything. You have to do it again and again. Why do we execute the length ball a lot? Because we have done it so many times. Every ball is like that,” he added.
Bumrah said that one must practice and also be aware of what they are doing, instead of doing it “for the heck of it”.
“Repetition, but smartly. But initially, I think before 27, or 28 years of age, you do not think about it. You have to learn the sport. If you do not bowl, if you do not do it enough, how will you learn the craft? It is not a video game that I have decided and it will happen. You have to do it again,” he concluded.
This year, Bumrah has been in a form of his life, having taken 77 wickets in 20 international matches at an average of 13.35 at an economy rate of 3.08 and best figures of 6/45. He has taken four five-wicket hauls this year. He was also the part of India’s ICC T20 World Cup-winning team, securing the ‘Player of the Tournament’ title for taking 15 wickets in eight matches at an average of 8.26, an economy rate of 4.17 and best figures of 3/7.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal.
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