Bumrah is looking to build on that success during the T20 World Cup, having had a successful injury comeback in the past.
Bumrah spoke about his recovery from injury in an interview with The International Cricket Council (ICC). Why he keeps things simple when communicating with younger players, and how repetition has been at the heart of his yorker bowling skill.
Critically, this means that Bumrah, who has bounced back flawlessly from a major back injury in the last 12 months or so as India counts on him heavily in its bid for a second ICC Men’s T20 World Cup victory on US soil and in West Indies starting this month.
This meant that Bumrah missed out on a lot of international cricket between 2022 and 2023 including the recent T20 world cup held in 2022 among other important matches despite being dubbed one of the best fast bowlers ever to have played for India.
However, he was back amongst it with a T20I series against Ireland last August and hasn’t looked back since.
He was also one of India’s best performers during their journey to the final of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. Where he picked up 20 wickets at an average of only 18.65 runs apiece with an economy rate below four.
The philosophy which will help him return to form after just several months away from cricket worldwide mega event is a simple one for Bumrah.
“I have focused more on enjoying myself since I came back after my injury,” said Bumrah as he tried to think about process rather than uncertainty surrounding cricket.
“Certain (things) may go my way; certain (things) may not go my way.”
“All these things are part of my process so I just realized ‘hey! How did I start playing?’ Actually because I loved it.”
“And not look at what comes next but what comes now so that also reduces the pressure on you. And then you enjoy the game.
“When you focus on those things, rather than what you can’t control.”
Bumrah ranks third among Indian wicket-takers in T20Is with 74 scalps.
A significant part of his success in the format is down to a pinpoint yorker that can slip past a batsman’s defences easily.
Bumrah spoke about how he developed this option for getting wickets by inventing yorkers while playing tennis-ball cricket as a child.
“So I used to play a lot of tennis ball cricket, rubber ball cricket when I was growing up,” Bumrah explained. “In summer camps with friends. In summer holidays. Or whenever we got enough time.
“Because I thought it was the only way to take wickets when I was young. Because I loved fast bowling and whatever I saw on TV really fascinated me.
“So I tried to copy it.”
He added that he has almost perfected this technique through constant practice of it.
“There are some secrets related to bowling Yorkers which (tennis-ball cricket) knows or maybe don’t know”, asked Bumrah.
“But replication is definitely one thing. Because I have this delivery. I still practice it. I keep practicing it always. In that way, every skill you acquire must be practiced and strengthen further. So a blend of two would be my guess.”
Bumrah, the most experienced player in the team for T20 World Cup, made his debut for India in 2016.
He together with Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj is leading an attack that Hardik Pandya assists as an all-rounder.
Also despite being a senior member of the group Bumrah earned room for development within the team structure among young people like Arshdeep.
“To avoid over-teaching.” – says Bumrah – “It’s something I learn; because anytime people need assistance, I let them ask their own questions.”
“Or when they require my assistance.” For fear of giving out too much information.
“It is on skill development,” explain Bumrah.
“They didn’t just get lucky and land here or something.” That’s what I try to do. However, there are some pieces of information that he passes on from his personal experience” he admitted.
“But never with (over) information overload.” Because it’s a part of a journey too.
“That you will find your own ways and answers.”
India is in Group A with Pakistan, Ireland, Canada and United States at Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
