Jasprit Bumrah’s return to the Indian side after sitting a few months out looked pretty familiar. It was the same Bumrah. With nearly the same bowling action. Delivering the same hostile spells. He is back to spearheading India’s bowling lineup as if he never left.
A fast bowler’s career is supposed to be rife with injuries. Bumrah, despite being nothing like mortals, has to conform to that tradition too. But each time he is sidelined with an injury, the first question that flows around is whether India have gone too far taking advantage of the little miracle they have. The second question, however, is more somber. Is one of these injuries going to force Bumrah out of the purest format of the game, under the garb of workload management? While that doesn’t seem entirely out of question, many Test careers have been seen to be cut short because of persisting injuries. This chatter doesn’t rattle him, or so he wants to believe.
“I can’t control what people write,” Bumrah said. “Nor am I trying to teach people what to write and what not to write about me. Everybody is free to write what they want. I understand cricket is very popular in our country, and I understand that using my name in the headline boosts the viewership. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter to me. Because if I let it get into my head, I will start believing it. I need my beliefs and my ways to dictate how I go. Not the way others want me to play.”
One of the reasons why he doesn’t let these apprehensions get to him seems to have been made in the face of them. This isn’t the first time such calls have circled him. That he has almost always managed to silence this noise with stick-to-it-iveness to bounce back every time.
“I always wanted to play for India,” the Indian pacer said. “I played for India on my belief. I have played every format on my belief. I have always heard ‘no’ from people. First they said ‘you won’t be able to play’; then they said ‘you will last only six months’; then they said ‘you will last only eight months’, and just like that I have spent ten years in international cricket listening to all this. I have played the IPL for 12-13 years.”
“Even now people keep saying this injury will be it. Keep waiting, I will not think about that. I will keep doing my work. Every three-four months there will be headlines but, let’s see, I will play till it is in my destiny. I prepare my best, and leave the rest to god. Whatever barkat [abundance or good fortune] god has given me, I try to carry it forward, and try to take Indian cricket forward.”
He has already announced that he will only play a maximum of three Tests this series, and he wants to squeeze the maximum out of whatever time he has on the field. What his career’s length will be when he retires is a question of least importance for Bumrah, especially when his mind is occupied with how he will translate his genius into each of his deliveries.
“You don’t look at what is going to happen in the future,” he said. “You are there in the ground at that moment. You have to do a job. So at that moment I’m trying to assess the wicket. I’m trying to assess what is happening, what are my options, how is the wicket behaving, who’s the batter there, what is he thinking, how do I outsmart him or what do I do? I look at all of those things at that moment. I was not thinking about what will happen or how many games I will play. At this moment, focusing on the Test match. When the match is over, think about all these permutations and combinations.”
He is taking it one game at a time. It’s foolish, he knows, to occupy himself with thoughts about a future that’s still far away. And if he has done what he loves to do to its fullest extent, that for him is a win bigger than any happy thoughts about a long career can bring.
“I ask myself this question at night, did I give my absolute best?” he said. “If the answer is yes, I quietly go to sleep.”
