Kolkata: History repeats itself. It is proved yet again. In 1984 at the Shivaji Park, Ramakant Achrekar used to give batting practice to a young boy with a single stump behind him and a little coin was placed above the stump. Archrekar Sir would advised him not to get beaten andif he did that the coin will be his at the end of the day. The young boy had gathered a lot of coins till he went on to play for India in the International cricket. He is none other than the great Sachin Tendulkar .
Jasprit Bumrah’s story is quite similar to that of Master Blaster. Jasprit Bumrah had gained his bowling skills from his childhood coach Kishore Trivedi (father of Siddharth Trivedi) from Royal Cricket Coaching Camp in Ahmedabad Nirman High School.
Kishore trivedi quoted as saying,” I was used to keep a bottle cap on the good length area and in the block holes. Jasprit used to bowl accurately on those areas since the age of 14 and had no hesitation in bowling to right and left-handers. He used to vary his line and length accordingly. At my coaching camp, there were players from different age groups and Jasprit was so capable that he used to practice with the senior team. The senior players used to literally get scared of his pace. The bowlers used to bowl long spells and at the end of the day Jasprit and others used to practice Yorkers for a continuous period of 30-40 minutes. It was a daily routine for all the players. At the end of the day whoever used to hit the maximum number of yorkers, I used to treat them with burgers, pizza etc.”
Kishore later added,” As we all know that, Jasprit has a very slim physique and I still get surprised how can he generate that amount of pace. It makes me proud that gradually Jasprit is becoming the spearhead of the Indian pace attack. Jasprit is still in contact with me and he often ask me for tips. He reviews his performance with me. I personally feel that his unorthodox action is his USP.“
Jasprit had represented India in a single ODI against Australia in Sydney claiming two wickets and giving away 40 runs from his 10 overs. He had the price scalp of Steve Smith in that match. In the 6 T20IS he had scalped 9 wickets with an economy of 6.93.
Jasprit Bumrah too revealed,” I want to give credit to my Coach and Malinga. In Mumbai Indians training, Malinga gave me a lot of inputs about how to bowl Yorkers and guided me. After training, we used to practice Yorkers with Malinga and others. Malinga is like my elder brother and he used to stand beside me in training and provides me various input on my bowling.He has also taught me how to vary in line and length in flat and bouncy tracks. Likewise I have bowled against Sri lanka in the first T20I at Pune.”
On being asked t Malinga’s which spell has inspired him till date, the Gujarat lad replied,” The answer may hurt a lot of Indian cricketing fans. The spell which “Slinga” bowled against Yuvraj in the 2014 T20 World Cup final was just phenomenal.”
Jasprit had a huge amount of respect for his captain Dhoni. “ Dhoni always advises me to stay “cool” (laughs). He has asked me to give my 100%, result will follow automatically. If you get hit for some balls don’t get worried. Dhoni bhai’s praise has given me a lot of confidence.” The youngster signs off.