Picture Credit: Twitter
Indian speedster Jasprit Bumrah has quickly made his name one of the best in modern-day cricket. While there were serious doubts whether he will be able to last long with his unorthodox action when he first arrived at the stage, later some saw him excelling only in white-ball cricket. However, Bumrah has time and again silenced all his critics as he has gone to prove himself as a spearhead of the attack not only in limited-overs cricket but also in Test match cricket.
In a recent interview with Dinesh Karthik for Sky Sports Cricket, Bumrah goes on to reveal how he picked up that action. Bumrah says that he was not formally trained in his early years and learned from watching the game on television. He added that his run-up and action was nothing but a culmination of all the bowling actions he attempted as a kid. Later, DK also shows him a video from his U-19 days where he can be seen bowling with a different action to which he responds by stating that he probably had seen someone with that action on television and did the same in the match.
Bumrah highlighted that the video was from his first year of U-19 cricket and he was just trying to copy an action which he liked. But later on, he did not try to change his action again and again as it wasn't the right thing to do.
Check out the video from his U-19 days here:
Speaking on the interview with Karthik, Bumrah said that no action is full proof and there are injuries and other concerns that fast bowlers face even with some of the smoothest actions. But given that he was not feeling any pain in his body with his unorthodox action, he stuck to it, and luckily the coaches that he encountered throughout his career also did not ask him to alter his action.
Bumrah seemed to face some discomfort during the fourth Test but given that India have batted long and will continue to bat on Day 4 of the ongoing Test match at The Oval, India would hope that he is fit and ready to go for the final innings where Virat Kohli & Co. will try and push for a win.