India bowling coach Bharat Arun on Wednesday heaped rich praise on ability of Bumrah to quickly adapt to different situations in Test cricket while revealing what led to his success in the second innings of the Antigua Test match against West Indies.
Bharat Arun said Bumrah’s spell in the 2nd innings that reduced West Indies to 50 for 9 was one of the best fast bowling efforts from an Indian pacer in a long time.
Jasprit Bumrah picked up only 1 wicket in the first innings after bowling 18 overs but he stepped and picked up his 4th 5-wicket haul in Tests in the second innings. Bumrah finished with figures of 5/7 as India bowled West Indies out for 100 and clinched a 318-run win to begin their World Test Championship campaign in style.
Bumrah, as Bharat Arun pointed out, bowled fulled than before and reaped the rewards as he swung the ball both ways to rattle the stumps four times. Bumrah bowled a peach to West Indies captain Jason Holder to make sure there were no late fightbacks from the hosts who are yet to win a match against India in the ongoing tour.
“It was the best spell of fast bowling I have seen from an Indian in a long time,” Bharat Arun said on Wednedsay, as quoted by Cricbuzz.
“He is bowling consistently at over 140 clicks at any given point of time, and his action is not a very orthodox action. So it takes the batsman a second longer to pick up. Also, he is very accurate which makes him so potent,” Arun added.
“Bumrah is a skilful bowler. He is aware of the situations and he has adjusted himself beautifully to every situation. Even if you see the lengths he bowled in the first and the second innings, it is obviously a lot more different. He has pitched the ball a lot more up and he was getting appreciable movement.”
Bharat Arun was reappointed as the bowling coach of the senior national team after the MSK Prasad-led senior selection committee held interviews for the posts of support staff. Arun, who has been key to Indian pace unit’s successive over the last 2 years, pipped the likes of Venkatesh Prasad to retain the job along with Ravi Shastri who has reappointed as the head coach.
Stressing that his approach to coaching pace bowlers varies with every individual, Bharat Arun said he focussed a lot on understanding “small things” that help them perform better. Arun instantiated his statement by revealing that the discussion that he had with Bumrah after the first innings of the Antigua Test was about the pacer’s lengths.
“We look at the bowling as per the execution, not the outcome.The wickets are the outcome, I’m not looking at the outcome at all,” Bharat Arun said.
He added: “Even after the first innings, what we spoke about was the execution. It was a bit short and with his bowling, he needs to bowl up. Wickets were never the question. If you bowl the right lengths, you will get the wickets. Bumrah is quite aware of that. And it was just the momentary shift in lengths.
“Every bowler is different. My interaction with every bowler is also very different from one another. It is so important to know the mindsets of the bowlers. Once you are, as a coach, aware of the mindsets of the bowlers, it is easier for us to give the right treatment,” Bharat Arun added.
Buyoyed by the performance of their bowling unit, India will be looking to complete a clean sweep of the 2-Test series when they face the West Indies in Jamaica from Friday.
Notably, India will retain their place at the top of World Test Championship table if they managed to win another 60 points in the 2nd Test. Virat Kohli’s men have been spotless in the ongoing tour of West Indies as the hosts are yet to win a match. West Indies were beaten 3-0 in T20Is and 2-0 in ODIs before they lost the 1st Test in Antigua.
PTI
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