IPL 2018: Jasprit Bumrah weighs Mumbai Indians’ bowling attack for IPL 2018

"Whenever I am back with the Mumbai Indians, I enjoy it" says Bumrah.

Jasprit Bumrah (Pic. source: AFP)

Having made his international debut back in January 2016, India pacer Jasprit Bumrah has come a long way. He had a memorable last year, scalping 30 wickets in 23 ODIs besides picking 12 wickets in 11 T20Is. Moreover, Bumrah’s bowling exploits in ODIs ensured his place in the ICC ODI Team of the Year 2017 and more importantly he received his dream Test cap during the South Africa tour earlier this year.

Bumrah is now gearing up to stamp his authority in the cash-rich Indian Premier League for Mumbai Indians. He was retained by the defending champions prior to the IPL auction.

Ahead of the 11th edition of IPL, Bumrah, in an exclusive interview with Mumbai Indians’ official website analysed the bowling attack of the side which will take the field without the services of Lasith Malinga for the first time after 9 years. In IPL 2018, Mumbai’s pace attack will have Pat Cummins, Mustafizur Rahman and Mitchell McClenaghan besides Bumrah and Hardik Pandya.    

“Every bowler in the unit comes with different skill sets. All our seam bowlers are different. The strengths wary from bowler to bowler. Some are left-armers and some are right-armers, so it all helps. Also, I have played with Mitch (Mitchell McClenaghan). We know each other. As a bowling unit, we always talk to each other. And we will look to work on the plans that have been discussed before. We try and help each other. I hope we will be able to repeat those things this year as well,” Bumrah said.

When asked about his personal goals for this season of the IPL, the 24-year-old said: “I don’t set personal goals. Instead, I take it one match at a time. Right now, I am looking forward to the first match. I am looking at the things that need to be done before the season opener.”

“If you don’t take it one match at a time, then you end up putting yourself under a lot of pressure. That’s because you look at the entire workload of the season. The idea is to have short-term goals. You keep ticking the boxes. And you keep moving ahead,” he elaborated.

Featuring in his maiden Test series, Bumrah claimed his maiden five-wicket haul in the third Test at Wanderers and led a foundation for India’s historic 63-run victory over the Proteas in January. The speedster had scalped 14 wickets at an average of 25.21 during the hard-fought Test series that the Virat Kohli and company lost by 2-1.

Talking about his Test debut and South Africa tour, Jasprit said: “I fulfilled my long-standing dream of representing India in Test cricket. We had a fantastic tour of South Africa. We became the first team in the history of Indian cricket to win an ODI series on South African soil. We also won the Twenty20 International series. It has been a great learning experience. Also, we won the Vivo IPL last year.”

Bumrah has played a key role in Mumbai Indians’ triumphant campaign last year with his variations, especially in the death overs. And this year, he wants to better his consistency.

“I will continue to work hard on my bowling and the consistency factor. I am also working on my body and taking care of my diet,” he said.

“It’s just that whenever I am back with the Mumbai Indians, I enjoy it. It feels good when the Vivo IPL season comes around. I am eagerly looking forward to it,” Bumrah concluded.

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 02 Apr, 2018

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