Indian batters get a taste of Bumrah's craftiness at optional nets session

ICC World Cup 2023 Ishan Kishan slumped to the field with a painful grunt as Jasprit Bumrahs slightly short of length delivery thudded onto his stomach It took him a few minutes to recover and resume the training on WednesdayShubman Gill was at his best while clobbering pacers Mohammed Siraj Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna into the standsBut the Indian opener had to restrain himself once Bumrah tested his skills with an assortment of slower balls and in the channel outside the offstumpIt was an optional net session alright but the pacer did not drop his intensity even for a moment The whole 20 minutes Bumrah spent bowling at nets offered a good peek into his operating philosophy in this World CupIt is not eyecatching like Mohammed Shami who has hogged all the limelight over the last fortnight owing to his 16wicket burst over four matchesAlso ReadBruised but not batteredShami is an apex predator zooming in on the stumps and hunting for wickets all the time Perhaps no other contemporary bowler hit the timber as often as himBut Bumrah has a totally different philosophy something that will thrill the connoisseurs more He likes to build up pressure with dot balls and draw batsmen into mistakesCheck this piece of statistics Bumrah has an economy of 365 across eight matches and it is the best among bowlers who have played at least two games in this World CupIn this showpiece the average runrate in the first Power Play 110 overs hovers around six but Bumrahs economy stands at a thrifty 29 during this phaseIt is like a python grip He just doesnt give any breathing space to the batters just as he had restricted a freeflowing Gill on this day at netsPerhaps being the leader of the pack prompts Bumrah not to chase wickets but him building pressure at one end allows the likes of Shami or Kuldeep Yadav to feed on thatAlso ReadPace wins the raceIt is not that Bumrah is incapable of moments of magic He can bring out that dreaded yorker at will like the one crashed on to the base of Bangladesh batter Mahmudullahs stumps like a heatseeking missilePakistan batter Mohammad Rizwan might never forget how a slow ball deceived him and disturbed the stumpsHowever Bumrah has not been in pursuit for such moments as he has a more lofty selfless job to do and if he has been a footballer then the pacer would have been happy providing endless assistsNetherlands is a cozy middleof theroad destination for him but if his purposefulness at nets is of any indication then the Dutch might experience that vicelike Bumrah gripAhead of their final league match against Netherlands here on Sunday the Indian team returned to the field for an optional net sessionVirat Kohli Suryakumar Yadav Shami and Kuldeep Yadav restricted themselves to the hotel room while others went through their strides here at the Chinnaswamy stadiumThe Indian team had reached the city on Tuesday after defeating South Africa by 243 runs at Kolkata and enjoyed an off day The Rohit Sharmaled team also became the first team to reach the semifinals of the World CupWith agency inputs