Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah on Friday said it was nothing short of a dream come true when he made it to the Test side as success in the longest format is something he always craved for. Early in his career, Bumrah was branded as a limited-overs specialist.
Bumrah is just 12 Test matches old and already has 62 wickets to his credit and became the first Asian bowler to secure five-wicket hauls in South Africa, England, Australia and West Indies. “For me, Test cricket was very important,” Bumrah was quoted as saying by PTI.
He added, “I have always wanted to play Test cricket and didn’t want to be a cricketer who only played T20s and ODIs. I gave a lot of importance to Test cricket...I always wanted to make a mark in Test cricket.
“I had done well in first-class cricket and was confident that I could replicate that in Test matches. The journey has just started, [I have] just played 12 Tests...when I made my Test debut in South Africa after playing two years of international cricket, and it was a dream come true.
“Being there playing in the white jersey was a great feeling and then slowly contributing to team success gave me satisfaction.”
Bumrah, in the West Indies, also became the third Indian bowler to take a hat-trick. The pacer uses the outswinger very well and according to him playing in England gave him confidence to execute the skill.
Asked about his away going ball, Bumrah said, “Not mastering it but I always had the out-swinger and not used it, but playing in England gave me a lot of confidence, the duke ball swings for a long time and that gave me a lot of confidence.
“I became more and more confident as I played more and more Test matches and because of that I was able to execute in Test matches.”