IND vs BAN: Bumrah reveals, how he destroyed the batsmen by changing bowling on the Chepauk pitch
IND vs BAN 1st Test: Jasprit Bumrah, who took four wickets against Bangladesh at Chepauk, has revealed that the normal balls were not working on the second day, so he had to make changes in his bowling.
Jasprit Bumrah said, who picked up four wickets against Bangladesh at MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk) in Chennai, that on the second day, the normal balls were not working, and hence he had to make changes in the bowling. Bumrah narrated how he took the wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim when the pitch was not helping much. Bumrah said in an interaction with GeoCinema that the ball was a little old; there was not much movement on it, but the bounce from the pitch was coming. I thought that if I bowled ahead, then there was not much swinging. So I thought how to make it difficult for the batsmen to score runs. I focused on this, and luck helped me.
Bumrah says, "The situation made me try and change my bowling." He further explained that I did not have many options, because when I was trying to bowl long balls, the ball is not doing anything special and there is no reverse swing either. So I had to try something new because when the pitch does not help, as a bowler you have to experiment. There was no purchase on this wicket, so I tried some of the things employed in domestic cricket. Today they clicked and that experience came useful for me.
Talking about using bouncers in the match, he said that, "I usually do not bowl so many bouncers in Test cricket. The weather was also very difficult and I am just making a comeback in Test cricket, so I had to make some changes. The ball had also become wet due to sweat and the seam had also become wet. In such a situation, different methods had to be tried to take wickets and stop runs.".
Bumrah narrated what was his conversation with captain Rohit Sharma on the bowling strategy. About Rohit, he said, "Rohit understands the bowlers very well. The weather was difficult and all the players are returning after some time. We were also playing a Test match after a long time, so everyone had to get into rhythm. The conversation was about short spells so that they could be effective. We have fast bowlers who want to bowl fast and spinners who can make an impact. When the ball is new, the seam is hard and there is some movement, we had to take advantage of it." Bumrah said that we changed the angle according to the conditions and I came round the wicket. The new ball was helping a little and we focused on that.
At the end of the second day's play, India were 81/3-lead of 308 runs. On the third day, Shubman Gill will resume his innings at 33* along with an unbeaten Rishabh Pant on 12*. Thanks to Ashwin's Test hundred 113, Ravindra Jadeja 86 and Yashasvi Jaiswal 56, India had reached as many as 376-first day runs on a flat track in Chennai at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. In reply, Bangladesh's first-innings folded up for 149 runs.
