Indian captain Virat Kohli emphasised on how the mindset of pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah sets him apart from the other bowlers and added that even he would not want to face the bowler on a wicket like Perth.
The 25-year-old was the pick of Indian bowlers with a match haul of 9-86 as the visitors registered their first win at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday in 37 years to take a 2-1 lead in the four-match series.
Bumrah has now claimed three five-wicket hauls — in South Africa, England and now Australia — in the very first year of Test cricket and Kohli believes that the maturity and improvement he has shown in just 12 months should scare any batsman in the world.
“The mindset he has at the moment is what separates him from anyone else in the world right now. He looks at a pitch and he doesn’t think it’s a hard toil, he thinks wickets, he thinks how can I get a breakthrough for the team.
“He’s as strong-headed as I’ve seen anyone in the past and that’s the key to his success that I’ve seen in the last 12 months, the way he has matured as a Test cricketer. The way he has matured in Test cricket and the areas he is bowling so soon in his Test career is, I think, a very scary sign for all the batsmen around the world,” Kohli added.
Explaining the rationale behind picking Bumrah ahead of other established Test bowlers in South Africa at the start of the year, who was till then considered a white ball specialist, Kohli said it was the work ethic of the bowler that made him and the team management feel that he was ready for the longer format.
“I think the fact that he was showing amazing levels of energy and fitness in white ball cricket and hence was too good. He was not giving runs with the new ball and he was getting wickets and then he would come back in the death overs and not one lose delivery. He was training like he wanted to play Test cricket.
“He was that obsessed about his fitness levels and his work ethics so we discussed before South Africa if we just put him as a surprised package he could be lethal if he gets his line and length right,” he added.
Bumrah has not just proved his skipper right with the progress he has made in the last 12 months but has become India’s bowling spearhead in such a short time.
“I mean in Test cricket, if there is a pitch like Perth, I won’t want to face Jasprit Bumrah to be honest because once he is on a roll he can really crank it up. The way he bowls is so much more difficult and I think he realises that more than the batsmen and that’s why he is so confident about his skill,” said the India skipper, who is considered to be one of the best batsman in the world cricket.
Kohli said the biggest positive as far as the bowling unit was concerned was their ability to stick to the plan.
“It’s all about the team and Bumrah’s interview post game was about how ‘I can contribute to the team.’ The fact that he didn’t get any wickets in Perth and the way he bowled in Perth he didn’t lose heart. He knew that wickets are going to come at some stage.
“If you see other bowlers, they are not trying to out do someone else. If Bumrah is picking wickets, they are containing runs. If someone else is picking wickets, Bumrah comes in and does his job. So does Jadeja, so does Ashwin,” he added.
