Jasprit Bumrah on Monday defended the struggling Indian team in Australia and played down talk of additional pressure on him, saying it’s a side in transition and given his experience, it’s his “job” to shoulder extra responsibility. Having taken a seemingly erroneous call of bowling first in the third Test at the Gabba here, India conceded a huge first-innings total of 445 despite Bumrah returning 6/76. In response, the visitors were 51/4 on a rain-hit third day with questions being raised about batters’ technique and the quality of bowling, save for Bumrah.
“We don’t, as a team, point fingers at each other and we don’t want to get into that mindset where we are pointing fingers at each other that ‘you should do this, you should do that’,” Bumrah told media after stumps when asked for his assessment of India’s batting.
“We, as a team, are going through a transition, new players are coming here and it’s not the easiest place to play cricket. Over here, it’s a different atmosphere with this wicket being a different challenge so yeah, we are not looking at that.” Bumrah, who leads the bowling chart in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with 18 wickets so far, defended the Indian attack amid chatter that he is not getting adequate support from fellow bowlers.
“As a bowling unit, as I said, we are in transition so it’s my job to help the others. I have played a little more than them so I am trying to help them,” said the owner of 191 Test wickets in just 43 Tests.
“Everyone will learn through it, will get better and eventually will find different ways so this is the journey that you’ll have to go through,” he added.
Bumrah rejected suggestions that India’s poor first innings scores were putting more pressure on the bowlers and on him.
“We have 11 players, it’s not like that. I don’t look at it that I have to do extra (work). As I said, we are a new team, a lot of new players have come into the side. We have to be considerate and give them that cushion that they will learn from experience,” he said.
“Nobody is born with all the experiences, nobody is born with all the skills. You keep learning, you keep finding new ways (and) you keep learning about your own game,” he continued.
The Indian vice-captain said he has enjoyed the challenge of bowling on different pitches in Australia.
“I always find different challenges very interesting. Because in the Test match that we played in Perth, the wicket was different. (At) Adelaide (with the) pink ball (was) different, the wicket behaved different, the ball behaved differently,” he said.
“Here it is a little different because the wicket is at a level and the run-up is low. In India we are not used to that,” he explained.
‘Don’t like whinging, don’t take opinions seriously’
Bumrah said his primary target on encountering a challenge is to tackle it instead of looking at others to come up with the solutions.
“…I look at how do I solve it, what can I do in this scenario rather than whinging or complaining or looking at someone else or pointing fingers that I need this from this person,” he said.
Bumrah reiterated he wants to remain level-headed in dealing with success and failures and that he cannot carry the “baggage of expectations”.
“When I was a youngster, yes, maybe I used to take extra baggage of fans and opinions. But I don’t take any opinions seriously,” he said.
“I look at myself. I look at answers what I have to do. I give it my absolute best. If I have given it my absolute best, I will accept the results. (But) I cannot carry someone else’s energy or baggage that people are expecting me to do the heavy-lifting,” he gave a peak into his mindset.
“There will be days when I will not get wickets. Somebody else will do, so I will have to do a holding job,” Bumrah added.
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