Jasprit Bumrah: Unbothered Under Pressure

Jasprit Bumrah's calm leadership under pressure is a hallmark of his career. A memorable image from the IPL 2019 final shows him comforting his Mumbai Indians teammate Quinton de Kock after a crucial bye slipped through in the penultimate over. Bumrah's wry smile as he steadied a crestfallen de Kock spoke volumes about his unshakeable composure.

In a tense Test match at Headingley, Bumrah demonstrated his trademark coolness, claiming his 14th five-fer in the format despite an unusually sloppy day in the field for India. He kept coming back, creating more chances with unwavering control of his lengths.

Reflecting on the momentary frustration that comes with dropped catches, Bumrah explained that he doesn't let it get to him. "You have to move forward with the game. So, what I look to do is not to take it too far in my head and try and quickly forget it because all of them are also new to the game."

Over the past three years, Bumrah's journey has been marked by spectacular peaks and significant injury layoffs. He is expected to take strategic breaks through the series to manage his body, but once he steps onto the field, he says there's no room in his head for calculations about workload.

"No. You don't look at what is going to happen in the future," Bumrah said. "You are there in the ground, in the moment. You have to do a job."

Bumrah's clarity of thought, to shut out the future and ignore the chatter, hasn't come overnight. It's been shaped by a career built proving the naysayers wrong. "I've always wanted to play cricket for India. I've played cricket on my belief. I've come to every format on my belief."

He's learned to tune out the doubters and even the weight of admiration, keeping his focus on his game. "I try and stay away from all of that. If I start to clear everybody else's expectation, and they look at me, that this is my name, and this is my ranking, and this is how I'm supposed to bowl, then I'm carrying a lot of baggage, and that's very difficult to carry."

In the context of the Headingley match, Bumrah wants the batters to score as many runs as possible to give a bowling cushion on what is still a good surface. "As many runs as we can. At this moment, it's a pretty good wicket to bat."