Bumrah feels adapting to conditions is the key

For a young and promising bowler, apart from being thrown into the deep end early on to learn the skills of survival, another thing that helps in his development is having a battle-hardened veteran as a guiding light. Jasprit Bumrah, who has caught everyone's attention with his death-bowling skills, has been having Ashish Nehra as his mentor for a while now.

The 23-year-old Bumrah said having Nehra around has been very helpful. “He has always been helpful. We have played in the World T20 together too, so his guidance has always been valuable for me. He has played a lot of matches in international cricket, so he has a lot of experience. In tough situations, he tells us 'you can do this, or do that.’”

Bumrah, known for his yorkers, showed good presence of mind in Nagpur. Picking cue from the English bowlers, he bowled a fair amount of slower and back of the hand deliveries to curb English batsmen's stroke-making. The Gujarat player felt a bowler needs to adapt to different conditions.

“As you saw, in the previous match, we were playing in a bigger ground and the wicket was on the slower side. So over there, the back of length and slower deliveries become key. But when we play in a smaller ground (like Bengaluru), the back of length deliveries and slower ones have a higher chance of going for runs. So we cannot go in with a general idea and it is important to bowl as per the wicket.”

One major issue plaguing Bumrah is no-balls with the bowlers overstepping the line six times since the opening match of the ODI series. Bumrah conceded it’s a problem and he’s been working on it. “I’ve been working on that. I worked with Anil (Kumble) sir also in the last match. I’m working on it and hopefully I’ll get some control on it.”