Jasprit Bumrah announces he will retire from cricket the day when…: 'I have never been able to fulfill...'

Hindustan Times

a day ago

No… not another retirement news, please. Indian cricket is still reeling from the 'R' word, after Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin made their respective announcements. They can't really be heading towards another one, sure? Are they? Well, not right now, but surely sometime in the future, as Jasprit Bumrah just dropped his retirement prediction. India's pace spearhead, who revolutionised fast bowling in India, has already lost a year and more due to his back injuries, and at 31, he knows how, where and in which direction his career and body are heading.
Nine years since he made his debut for India, Bumrah has done some bloody special things for India. So much so that after only 45 Tests, he is being spoken in the same breath as some of India's legendary fast bowlers, such as Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath, and Zaheer Khan. In fact, some are even confident that he has far surpassed them as India's greatest fast bowler of all time. Yet, at 31 years old, Bumrah is aware that his journey will not continue forever.
"This is a sport that I fell in love with. I went to Australia this time, and a lot of youngsters came up to me and tried to copy my [bowling] action. Which is surreal because I used to do that. So yeah, this journey will not always go on, but whenever it ends, I want to give it back to the sport. Because whatever I have and whatever I have learnt in life is through this sport. Thankful to the journey that I have had," Bumrah told former Australia captain Michael Clarke on the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast.
Bumrah acknowledged that although he has plenty more left to achieve – he has won one T20 World Cup, his only ICC tournament – he knows that amid the gruelling demand and rigours of international cricket, his career has a shelf life. Although Bumrah plays all three formats, along with the IPL, there will come a time when he will prioritise one or more formats more than the others and pick and choose even more carefully than he already does.
Not too long ago, Bumrah had a bittersweet tour of Australia, where he picked 32 wickets but also in a losing cause as India were thrashed 1-3. Besides, his back injury resurfaced, putting him out of action for a couple of months. Given all that, Bumrah is grateful, and when the time comes for him to step away, it will only be when he has burnt the candle at both ends.
"It is tough for any individual to keep playing everything for so long. I have been doing it for a while. But eventually, you have to understand where your body is going and what the important tournaments are, so you have to be a little selective and smart about how you use your body. Obviously, as a cricketer, I would never want to leave anything and always keep on going," added Bumrah.
"At this moment, I am ok. But I don't set goals such as this is the number I should be at. I look at it one day at a time. The journey is going good so far, but the day I realise that the drive is gone or the effort is not there or my body is not holding up, that is the time when you make the decision."