India pacer Jasprit Bumrah said that a bit of mindset adjustments and staying in the present moment worked wonders for him during the first Test against England after a disappointing outing in the World Test Championship final against New Zealand.
After going wicketless the WTC final at Southampton prior to this series, Bumrah returned to form with a bang, registering figures of 4/46 and 5/64 to rattle England’s batting line-up in the ongoing match.
“Not a lot of adjustments to be very honest, just the mindset adjustments. Probably not looking at the end result, being in the moment, trying to back your skills and enjoy the game of cricket,” said Bumrah at the post-day press conference on Saturday night when asked about his preparation after the WTC disappointment
In the inaugural WTC final, which India lost by eight wickets to New Zealand, Bumrah had disappointing figures of 0/57 and 0/35.
Staying in the moment: Patient Jasprit Bumrah finds his zone
“There are not a lot of changes that I have made and I am looking to do. I am just trying to improve my game all the time and trying to add new things, at the same time carrying the things that I still have,” added the speedster.
Going into the final day of the opening Test, India need 157 runs to win with nine wickets in hand.
Bumrah said the visitors aren’t looking too far ahead and would concentrate on playing session by session.
“You know when you start playing the game of cricket, you have to believe in yourself that you want to win and play to win, but we don’t want to look too far ahead. We have got a good start and we just want to take session by session.
“We will go tomorrow morning with a good mindset and hopefully take things from there,” he said.
After bundling out England for a meagre 183, India rode on KL Rahul’s classy 84 and Ravindra Jadeja’s 56 to score 278 and take a valuable 95-run first-innings lead.
Despite skipper Joe Root’s stroke-filled 109, England were bowled out for 303 in their second innings, giving India a 209-run target to chase. At stumps on the fourth day, India were 52/1, needing 157 more runs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match Test series.
Bumrah also hailed star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who created history by wining India’s first track and field gold medal at the Olympics in Tokyo on Saturday.
“We got to know about the news when we came inside for lunch. And we were hearing that he was in the finals, so congratulations. Just participating in the Olympics is a big achievement, representing your country a lot of hard-work goes there.
“And you get gold medal, first gold medal in track and field so, it is a big achievement. Proud of all the athletes who were there and whenever they achieve and whenever they represent the country, it is a great sign and we are very happy for them,” he signed off.
With PTI Inputs
