India and Mumbai Indians (MI) fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has credited former New Zealand speedster and MI’s bowling coach Shane Bond for his success in the modern era cricket, saying the latter has played a major role in shaping his career.
As the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) was suspended indefinitely, Bumrah is now set to lead India's pace attack in the upcoming ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand, as well as, in the five-match Test series in England next month.
Bumrah said, “I always try to talk to him even when I am not here and with the Indian team. So, it's been a good journey, and hopefully, every year I keep learning something new and try to add new things to my bowling. He has played a major role in that. It's been a great relationship so far, and hopefully, this continues for many many years to come.”
He recalled, “I met him (Bond) for the first time in 2015. As a child, I had seen him bowl and was always very fascinated by how he used to bowl for New Zealand, and how he used to operate.”
The Gujarat pacer also revealed the Bond has helped him a lot in broadening his horizon which helped him blossom as a cricketer as well as one of the best death bowlers in the world.
Bumrah signed off by saying, “When I met him over here, it was a good experience. He helped me a lot to open my mind to different things that I could try on the cricket field. So that was very good and that relationship has only gotten better each and every year.”
Noteworthy, New Zealand pacer Trent Boult had recently hailed Bond as a “tremendous thinker of the game and a pretty good tactician.”
Boult had said, “He has been here for a long time, he knows what he is doing and he puts in a lot of work into making sure that the bowlers are well equipped and have got enough information to make some decisions on the day. Yeah, really enjoy working with him.”
