Jasprit Bumrah seldom loves being in the limelight and prefers to go about his task silently. So much so that when he joined Mohammed Siraj at the prize distribution ceremony at Newlands on Thursday as an interpreter, he preferred to downplay the accolades showered on him by the Player of the Match.
If Siraj’s career-best 6/15 on the first day skittled South Africa out for 55, Bumrah’s 6/61 derailed them in the second innings to set up India’s series-levelling victory.
Bumrah left out the part where Siraj gave him the credit and instead attributed his teammate’s success entirely to the junior pacer’s efforts.
“Jassi bhai hamesha, jo woh start karte hain toh woh message milta hai ki kya wicket pe konsi line aur length better hai. Toh message milne se mujhe zada sochne ki zarurat nahi rehti hai bas consistent... Woh chiz pe work karenge toh success milega toh yahi (Bumrah) agar saamne end pe rahe toh bohut hi achcha hain,” Siraj said.
But Bumrah was too modest. “When we play together, he gets the message a little earlier because of our experience. We try to analyse the wicket a little quicker so that communication goes in the bowling circuit that this is the wicket and this is what we are looking to do. So that helps him sometimes,” was Bumrah’s loose translation.
Coming to Cape Town, the Indian pace attack faced a lot of flak following their poor showing in the Centurion Test. Was Bumrah the same bowler after the back surgery? Would Siraj be able to fill the void left by Mohammed Shami’s injury-induced absence?
The pressure was starting to build and it was of a different kind. They didn’t have a clue as to how the Cape Town wicket would behave and were wary of India’s winless record at the venue.
The think-tank kept faith in young Prasidh Krishna but replaced a weary Shardul Thakur with the talented Mukesh Kumar. It was a test of not just their individual abilities on foreign shores but also the depth of the attack.
Siraj kept his discipline and accuracy in a nine-over spell in the opening session which ripped through the South Africa batting. They had worked on their length and bowled much fuller concentrating on an off-stump line.
South African pitches offer a unique combination of bounce and lateral movement. Bumrah and Siraj bowled the hard lengths as the batters scurried for cover.
It wasn’t easy since the team had to do away with the mental trauma of having lost the last six wickets for nought in the first innings. But Bumrah and Siraj started on an enterprising note with the same hostility and control.
Mukesh provided adequate support at the other end with timely strikes which worked in the team’s favour.
Once Shami’s back, the trio can demolish any team, irrespective of the conditions. That’s been their biggest strength and the national selectors will need to monitor the workload. India need them to be fit for the year-end Border-Gavaskar trophy in Australia.