Former India captain Virat Kohli was quite pleased by a young Jasprit Bumrah when he initially made the Test squad. He outwitted Kohli in the nets, and the cricketer subsequently admitted that it was tough for him to choose the ace pacer.
However, Bumrah had already established himself as a white-ball cricketing authority. Based on his performance in the nets, Kohli supposedly went directly to Shastri and confessed that he struggled to read Bumrah’s release point. Bharat Arun said that Kohli even remarked that he selects Bumrah a little later than the other bowlers.
“We got to South Africa approximately ten days early. We did some center-wicket practise. And Virat was blown away by Bumrah. I recall Virat approaching Ravi after playing him and saying, ‘Ravi bhai, sabse mushkil hai isko khelna. Mujhe pata nehi lag raha hai kab woh release kar raha hai (Ravi was the most difficult bowler to face. “I couldn’t figure out when he was releasing the ball…and I choose him a trifle later than the other bowlers,” Arun stated on the inaugural edition of ‘Rise of New India’ with Cricbuzz.
Nevertheless, Bumrah said ahead of his first encounter that he wasn’t bowling to his best capacity because he believed the wicket was unfair to the hitters. Arun added that he was certain that Bumrah will make his debut in the first Test against South Africa at the time.
“Then we took a deeper look and decided that for the first Test, we should absolutely go with Bumrah since he was speedy. He also said that the wickets were good and juicy. ‘Sir, I am not going all out because it is not fair,’ he said. These wickets are much too useful. I’m not going all out for them because they’re our hitters. This was quite remarkable to me. At that practice session, everyone who played him was pleased by Bumrah. As a result, it was a no-brainer to start Bumrah in the first Test,” Arun said.
