Jasprit Bumrah has risen rapidly to become one of the leading fast bowlers in world cricket but he says many thought that he would be the “last person to play for India".
The Indian pacer made this revelation during a live session on Instagram with former India batsman Yuvraj Singh.
“Many people told me that I won’t play for long, there was an expectation that the last person to play for the country would be me,” said Bumrah when Yuvraj asked him about his unusual bowling action.
“They told me that I would just play the Ranji Trophy. But I kept on improving and I persisted with my action,” said the 26-year-old, who made his India debut in January 2016 following his exploits in the IPL.
Bumrah has gone on to play 64 ODIs, 50 T20Is and 14 Tests. He made his Test debut in January 2018 and in quick time, he became Virat Kohli’s go-to bowler even in the five-day format.
During the chat, Yuvraj reminded Bumrah that he had predicted that the pacer would go on to become the “number one bowler in the world”. And he did in 2017, when he achieved the top spot in T20I rankings.
Bumrah also addressed the common belief that he burst onto the scene from the Indian Premier League (IPL) is a “myth”, stressing on his domestic performances as being the key reason for his promotion to the top level and why budding cricketers today need to respect that.
“Bowlers come up to me and say ODI, T20 thik hai (ODIs, T20I is enough). But they forget, Tests make you a complete cricketer,” he said.
“That I made it to the Indian team by my performances in the IPL is a myth. 2013 is when I came into the IPL (for Mumbai Indians) then 2013, 2014, 2015 I was not playing regularly. I did well in (Vijay) Hazare and in domestic circuit then I came into the Indian team in 2016,” Bumrah said.
“You have to play Test cricket to survive in the long run,” he added.
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