I realised how much I love playing the game – Jasprit Bumrah

Ever since his return to the Indian cricket team and as part of the ongoing World Cup, Jasprit Bumrah has been in sensational form. In fact, he has returned to his magical best and talks about his lack of form have been put to bed.

During India’s match-up against England, Bumrah was once again roaring majestically as he clinched three crucial wickets that featured the likes of Dawid Malan, Joe Root and Mark Wood. Bumrah has so far clinched 14 wickets that places him second in the list of the bowlers with most wickets, tied with New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner.

However, ahead of the Asia Cup, there were some serious questions on Bumrah’s fitness and even when he came back to the squad for the Ireland series, there were several experts who pointed out that the pacer is no longer as fit as he used to be. It was further said that there has been a drastic change in his body language and run-up without even realising that it was a matter of him needing to get into the groove.

After India’s humdinger win against England, Bumrah had a chat with Sky Sports and he answered his critics loud and clear. He said, “My wife [TV sports presenter Sanjana Ganesan] also works in the sports-media department. So yeah, I heard a lot of question marks on my career that I will never come back and all of that, but it doesn't really matter. I'm very happy.”

He further added, “I came back and I realised how much I love playing the game. I was not chasing anything. Great headspace was there when I came back from the injury. So yeah, eventually I'm looking at the positives and trying to enjoy as much as you can."

Bumrah also shed some light on his performance against New Zealand, adding, “It was a good challenge for us that we were put under pressure. We lost a little bit of early wickets. We had to squeeze in and in the field as well, we had to put in a lot of effort. So yeah, very happy with the result. It was really good for us because we've been fielding first and we've been doing that for a while now. Because [India chased] in the previous series as well, which I played.”

He concluded by saying, “Usually when you bowl with the new ball, you first search for swing if there is some swing. Otherwise, you just try and hit a hard length and make it as difficult as possible. So there was a little bit of swing, but not too much from my end. Then I tried to seam the ball a lot more and which was helping a little bit. So then I changed to seam bowling."