What is Bumrah’s mindset ahead of the second Test?

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Indian cricket team players in a practice session today at Centurion. Image Source: XtraTime

Internet Desk: World No.1 Indian Test side lost the first of three-match Test series by 72 runs against South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town a few days back. The nation’s young pacer Jasprit Bumrah made his Test debut at Cape Town. Though he didn’t do well in the first innings but later in the second innings he roared back in form with a figure of 3 for 39 and took the wicket of AB de Villiers which was his maiden wicket in Test arena. According to Bumrah he has taken a lot of positives from the first Test and it will help him to bowl well in the second Test at Centurion.

“It was not a dream debut. I was happy with whatever I learnt from that match. As a bowler you look to get the first wicket early and I got AB de Villiers.

“It was a happy moment, and from there on, we took a lot more wickets. As a bowler, my motto is not to get too excited and not to get too down after every match. I want to take confidence in to the next match,” said Bumrah while talking to the media today.

Beside that Bumrah said that if a single Test match loss would break a team’s morale then it “does not deserve” to play Test cricket.

“Confidence is not dented after one match. If it happens, then you don’t deserve to play. Learn from the mistake you made and go forward. There is not a single cricketer who has not made a mistake.”

“It was a first good Test and a good learning experience for me because I have never played over here in South Africa. So I had a lot of things to learn from it. Now it is time to move forward and focus on the second Test,” said Bumrah.

Bumrah said he prefers to not have any notions about the surfaces he bowls on. He also acknowledged that Indian bowlers erred in reading the bounce in the South African first innings, which yielded 286 runs for the hosts.

“We realized what mistakes we made in the first innings, so (on day four) we were trying to create pressure from both ends and focus on our lengths which were wrong in the first innings.

“We just tried to correct them and not overdo things because over here when there is help from the wicket, you try to do extra but that won’t help. So we were just trying to be disciplined and stick to basics,” he said.

When asked about the moment he was made aware of his Test debut, Bumrah said, “There was a general discussion that I would play the match. So I started talking to our bowling coach what kind of things I should do, what kind of wickets are over here and what should I expect.”

The Gujarat pacer said he was not nervous when his debut cap was handed to him.

“It’s not like I was playing a first First-Class game in my life. I have played a lot of four-day games. So my basic plan was to go inside, get a feel of the wicket and make changes accordingly.”