Jasprit Bumrah credits his success to Lasith Malinga

India’s premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been magnificent for the side in the past couple of years. He has been a regular feature in the ODI and T20I sides and has been the go-to bowler for the skipper Virat Kohli.

In the ongoing ODI series against Sri Lanka, he is the leading wicket-taker with 11 scalps in 3 games. In the 3rd ODI, he bagged his maiden five-wicket haul in the format and became the only Indian bowler to achieve the feat since 2014 when Stuart Binny picked 6 wickets against Bangladesh.

The ability to bowl yorkers at will separates Jasprit Bumrah from the rest. Talking about yorkers, one bowler who has done it all his life is Lasith Malinga. Bumrah reckons that the Sri Lankan maestro has played a big role in his success. The two right-handers play for the IPL franchise Mumbai Indians together and spending time with Malinga has done wonders to Bumrah’s game.

Here’s what Bumrah said

“Malinga has been there with Mumbai Indians when I was a 19 year old in 2013. I was a kid who didn’t play first class cricket so talking to him and learning from him is always valuable,” said Bumrah in the press conference after the 3rd ODI.

“Malinga has been there for 3-4 years so I have learnt a lot from him. Over the years it has helped me quite a lot and going forward in international cricket you talk to a lot of senior bowlers, that also is helpful. I think every bit of knowledge that you get is very important,” he added.

“As a bowler, you have to constantly learn new things and that’s been my main aim all the time. This is my first visit to Sri Lanka and I have never played here so it is always a challenge to play in different conditions,” said the 23-year-old.

“I look to do that and ask questions to seniors what experience they have gained for so many years. I look to do that and this basic change that has come in me is that I always learn nowadays because as a youngster you don’t know what place you have to go and learn. The change that has come from experience is helping me as well.” he added.

“The last wicket was a bit on the slower side so at that time I thought I have to use variations and slower balls because the ball was not coming onto the bat. This wicket when we started the ball was seaming a bit so you try to use that to your advantage, bowl a good line and length, try to get good results from the wicket, so we tried to do that and it was a good day it worked in our favour,” Bumrah added.

“If you are just a one trick bowler, that won’t work for a long period of time. If you want to be successful you have to evolve according to the wickets and learn from all the experienced players and take the experience forward,” he further said.