Jasprit Bumrah believes some provision should be made for an “alternative” to saliva for bowlers as a means to shine the ball, once cricket resumes. The ICC had agreed with its cricket committee and said no saliva should be applied to the ball as part of the new safety protocols in a post Covid-19 world, but Bumrah has suggested that, with conditions already loaded in favour of batsmen in limited-overs cricket, a counter-balance was needed.
Bumrah was speaking to Ian Bishop and Shaun Pollock on the ICC’s video series Inside Out interviews, and elaborated on his unique action, why a short run-up works for him, his preference for the Duke ball, and life in lockdown.
On the prospect of no saliva, high-fives or hugging
I was not much of a hugger anyway! And not a high-five person as well, so that doesn’t trouble me a lot. The only thing that interests me is the saliva bit. I don’t know what guidelines we’ll have to follow when we come back, but I feel there should be an alternative. If the ball is not well maintained, it’s difficult for the bowlers. The grounds are getting shorter and shorter, the wickets are becoming flatter and flatter. So we need something, some alternative for the bowlers to maintain the ball so that it can do something – maybe reverse in the end or conventional swing.
[Bishop points out that conditions in Test cricket have been pace-friendly over the last couple of years]
In Test match cricket, yes. That is why it’s my favourite format, because we have something over there. But in one-day cricket and T20 cricket… one-day cricket there are two new balls, so it hardly reverses at the end. We played in New Zealand, the ground (boundary) was 50 metres. So even if you are not looking to hit a six, it will go for six. In Test matches I have no problem, I’m very happy with the way things are going.
Whenever you play, I’ve heard the batsmen – not in our team, everywhere – complaining the ball is swinging. But the ball is supposed to swing! The ball is supposed to do something! We are not here just to give throwdowns, isn’t it? (laughter) This is what I tell batsmen all the time. In one-day cricket, when did the ball reverse last, I don’t know. Nowadays the new ball doesn’t swing a lot as well. So whenever I see batsmen say the ball is swinging or seaming and that is why I got out – the ball is supposed to do that. Because it doesn’t happen so much in the other formats, it’s a new thing for the batsmen when the ball is swinging or seaming.
On how bowling can be affected during the lockdown
I really don’t know how your body reacts when you don’t bowl for two months, three months. I’m trying to keep up with training so that as soon as the grounds open up, the body is in decent shape. I’ve been training almost six days a week but I’ve not bowled for a long period of time so I don’t know how the body will react when I bowl the first ball.
I’m looking at it as a way to renew your own body. We’ll never get such a break again, so even if you have a small niggle here and there, you can be a refreshed person when you come back. You can prolong your career.
On the back injury that made him miss the 2019-20 home season
I don’t know what actually was happening because there was not a lot of pain. There was some difficulty, some stiffness here and there, so we took the conservative approach and just tried to make it stronger. Could have been back earlier, but yes – there was no pain, no difficulty as such. I was just focusing on the break that I’d gotten because of a small niggle. I focused on the whole body development at that time.
On the New Zealand tour post-injury
We earlier thought it was a stress fracture but I was lucky that it was not giving me any pain. If there is no physical pain there is no limitation. So you won’t hold yourself back. In that aspect I was a little lucky. Yes maybe one or two games you give yourself a little bit of time, but as soon as one or two games went by I wasn’t holding myself back.
On his unique action
I’ve never been to a professional coach as such (in his formative years). All my cricket is self-taught. Everything I learned was through television, watching videos… so I don’t know how this action developed. There were always some people doubting that should I change it or not, but I’ve never really listened to them a lot. I always had belief that it could work.
I have changed certain things… When I started, in 2013, I used to jump out a lot. If something is giving you trouble you change it. If it’s not giving you any trouble, then I keep on doing it. I listen to a lot of advice, I’m very inquisitive. I ask a lot of questions to all the senior players and coaches. Getting general feedback, filtering the advice – if it works for me, then I try to do it. If it doesn’t, you have to let it go.
Growing up, wherever I went, the general feedback was that this guy won’t be a top-rated bowler, he won’t be able to play for a long period of time, he won’t be able to do well as a bowler (because of his action). But the only validation that is required is your own validation.
On having a short run-up
The run-up is because of playing in the backyard. We didn’t have a lot of space when I used to play as a child. This was the longest run-up you could have, so maybe that could be a reason. I’ve tried a longer run-up and nothing changes – the speed is still the same. So why run so much?
This helps me when I play Test matches because when I’m bowling my fourth spell, fifth spell, I’m relatively more fresh than the bowlers who play with me and have a longer run-up. This was my theory. This is not the best thing I should say but I am bowling quicker than them in my fourth spell as well! So I think I should stick to it. If I have some physical difficulty and if it’s giving me some trouble, then I’ll find solutions. But if it’s not broken, why fix it?
On developing the outswinger (inswinger to left-handers)
I always had the outswinger, but when I came into the international set up I was not very confident of it because maybe it was not going out really well. The pace should be good, you should have the feel of it. I was trying to work on it, and in the West Indies, conditions were helpful, the ball was helpful so I was able to swing it.
It was there even in the 2016 T20 World Cup. I bowled an inswinger to Chris Gayle. That was the first time I tried bowling an inswinger to the left-hander. But I was not so confident of it because you don’t know if you’ll have the zip, if it will swing as much. In England (2018) I didn’t play the first two Tests because I had a thumb injury so I bowled in the nets. That was my first experience with the Duke ball and it was swinging in the nets. So I became more confident and bowled the outswinger in the nets. Hearing the commentary as well (on air, there was talk of the left-handers being able to leave Bumrah outside off because it wouldn’t swing back in), I thought maybe if they are listening, and they don’t know I have the outswinger, then it could probably go to my advantage.
On the Duke ball
I love bowling with the Duke ball. It does a lot, it seams, it swings… when you have a little bit of help, that does make a difference. Nowadays it’s difficult to be a fast bowler because the boundaries are getting shorter, the wickets are getting flatter. So if the ball does something, it makes an even competition. If there is no help you have very few things to play with so it becomes a lot more difficult for a bowler. I enjoy bowling with the Duke ball more than any other ball.
On his Test career so far
When I played my first Test match in South Africa, I was not used to bowling on such different kinds of wickets, because that was my first time in South Africa. There was a lot more bounce, lot more seam. In India, we tend to bowl a lot fuller because we have to use reverse swing in first-class cricket to get wickets, or maybe try to swing the ball early up. But in that Test series, in the first innings, I tried bowling Indian lengths, tried to bowl a little too full. So the South African batsmen played me a lot better. They drive the ball on the rise over there, so that was something new. Quickly in the second innings we had to adjust. We could afford to bowl a little shorter there and try to seam the ball because there was a lot more bounce. After that went to England, the ball swings, so again you have to go fuller. Then Australia was different again.
On the T20 World Cup
We were really preparing well for it. We had a lot of T20 games before the World Cup as per the old schedule. If everything had been on plan, we would have had the IPL as well so we would have had a fair number of T20 games. We would always want to believe that we can win the tournament. That is how we felt in the 2019 World Cup, but you know how the game was. In half an hour, 40 minutes it can change.