
Competitive Jasprit Bumrah had the spark and vibe to represent India: Priyank Panchal
Former Gujarat player Priyank Panchal said that Jasprit Bumrah always had the spark, vibe and willingness to represent India at the highest level. Bumrah is considered to be one of the best bowlers in all formats and is the No.1 Test bowler in the world at the moment. But before his exploits on the international circuit, the pacer made a name for himself while playing for Gujarat. advertisementDuring the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy season, where Panchal scored 1310 runs in 10 matches, Bumrah picked up 24 wickets from seven matches. This also included a spell of six for 29 against Jharkhand in the semi-final. The pacer played a big role as Gujarat defeated Mumbai in the final to lift the title. Speaking to India Today in an exclusive interaction, the former Gujarat batter said that Bumrah was always competitive and everyone knew if he was given the chance, he would succeed for India. Panchal felt that Bumrah's unique bowling technique made him a standout and the pacer is where he is right now because of his hard work and experience off the field.
"I think he had that spark and that vibe and the willingness to represent the country at the highest level, and even at that time, he was so competitive. And you can imagine that if you get a chance with that competitiveness in the next level, you will definitely be successful. So he's successful because he has worked hard."advertisement"He has faced so many challenges like out of cricket. He was someone we all wanted him to represent the country because he has that different kind of bowling technique. You don't get to see this kind of bowler very often. Like you can get to see, I think in one in 20 years, I would say this kind of bowlers. And doing it so consistently is also a thing. So I think credit goes to him because he worked hard. He learned from all the experiences and he's still learning," said Panchal. How is it like facing Bumrah in the netsPanchal then said that Bumrah is someone who remains competitive in the nets and always troubled the batters with his deliveries during practice. "Bumrah is so competitive. Like even if I play a cover drive, so the next ball would be either a bouncer or a yorker. Even in the nets, like we were playing 40 to 50 balls in nets and out of those 40 to 50 balls, he must be bowling, I think 6 to 8 balls to each batsman . Out of 6 to 8 balls we will be having two bouncers. Then when you are done. That's it. 1 to 2 balls we have to leave it because it's like we were preparing for the day game. So that's the story," said Panchal. Bumrah is currently part of the Indian team that is touring England. - EndsTune InMust Watch

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India Today
29 minutes ago
- India Today
An anti-ageing cream called cricket
The year is 1997. A child is protesting to not wear his maroon sweater, as mandated by his DAV school. It's the end of March, the sun is out, winter has largely receded, but mornings in North India still have a nip. After the unsuccessful agitation, the sweater-clad child walks to the bus stop. He has been following a Test match happening in a different time zone, which ended post his bedtime. There is no mobile internet to check the result, so his eyes are searching for a newspaper at the bus is one. Kept, folded, on a wooden bench, whose owner has excused himself to smoke a beedi. The child skips past all the politics and local crime news, and lands on the second last page - the sports page. He freezes, as he reads the headline "India 81 all out". This is the famous test at Bridgetown, Barbados, where India failed to chase 120. The kid is numb, as he drags his soul-less body onto the bus.I have been watching cricket for 30 years now. As we age, our emotional investment in this game depreciates. Our heroes age, fade away, some get a farewell match, some don't, newer players come. There are some matches you just check the highlights of. Amazed at yourself by the disinterest, you think this is it. You have moved But then, on a random weekday, fifth day of a Test match, two wickets down, 100 odd runs to get, a Shardul Thakur sends Harry Brook back to the pavilion, with a delivery straying down the leg side. Two wickets in two deliveries. You scream "OUT" like that child way back in 1996, who screamed when Venkatesh Prasad uprooted Aamir Sohail's stump. Cricket keeps us young. It is the best anti-aging heartbreaks are core memories. They stay longer than the wins - a product of Darwinian evolution. We are coded to retain the bad outcomes, the threats, so as to learn and survive longer. We cope differently.I remember those Sharjah debacles against Pakistan on Jummah days. I would walk back home (we didn't have cable TV) broken-hearted. And I would look at people on the street, the paani puri wala, the one girl gleefully having the thrilling paani-puri, an uncle negotiating the best rate of potatoes and the numerous other people calmly going about their business. I would wonder if their lives are better off not following cricket, not having to witness Aquib Javed running through the Indian tail. Why am I ruining my entire day for a non-material loss? The players, the board of cricket, the sponsors don't even care about my existence. Why should I be so emotionally invested? Why should I be sad over something that has zero bearing on my goals and ambitions in life? And then, a few days later. Sachin would hit a six over the head of Michael Kasprowicz, and we were all back with our cheerleader pom an incredible time warp, and we are all willingly part of it. An emotional roller-coaster we have been riding for decades. Each time we think we are too old for this ride, and we want to get down, it pulls us back in, with miracles like two centuries in the same Test match by Rishabh Pant. And then, on the very next day, presents a fresh heartbreak. India fails to defend 371. Only the second time ever. Each loss plumbs new depths, and each win sets new records.I was in Goa this time on the fifth day, when Stokes and Root were batting with some 50 odd runs to get. I was out for dinner in the immaculate Tanjore tiffin room, polishing off some brown rice with a divine Puli my phone conked off. Panic. I had to rush home. After some anxious moments with the valet, taking his own sweet time, I reached my place, plugged my phone in, waited patiently for it to boot-up, then typed in "Eng vs Ind" on the Google bar, waiting for the score to refresh, hoping to see an increment in the wickets' the buffering circle rotated, it reminded me of that newspaper at the bus stop, 28 years ago. Same child-like anxiety. Same result. Maybe the same intensity of heartbreak. Sigh. Soon, another victory, another moment of magic, will pull us back onto this perennial roller-coaster. Till then, have faith in this anti-ageing cream called cricket.(Abhishek Asthana is the founder of a creative agency – GingerMonkey. He tweets as @GabbbarSingh)- Ends(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)Tune InMust Watch


Indian Express
41 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Jofra and Jasprit, the speed guns without speed breakers destined to make cricket great again
England's foremost cricket pundit Nasser Hussain thinks Jofra Archer should sit out the Edgbaston Test but train with the team – bowling at nets, jogging during breaks, getting his body Test match ready. Last Sunday, Archer, England's very own Jasprit Bumrah, played a first-class game after 1,500 days. Finally, fit to play the longer format, he bowled 18 overs for Sussex and got a wicket. If you are a 150kph bowler with a sparkling red-ball history that was enough to get a Test recall. But Hussain advises caution, he wants Archer to press restart at Lord's, ironically the Test Bumrah is expected to return to, after his likely miss of the second Test that starts on July 2. At the Home of Cricket, the two diehard Test cricket lovers will terrorise batsmen and for once the lopsided bat-versus-ball contest will be even. Bumrah and Jofra have lost out a lot because of their passion and commitment towards Tests. They could have taken the easy way out, like many of their contemporaries who just focused on white-ball cricket, cut down on workload and earned a lot. But they haven't. Jofra sacrificed money, Bumrah the captaincy. When Jofra was recalled, BBC spoke to his close friend Saqib Mahmood. The two had roomed when they were dealing with similar injuries. 'With Jof the easiest thing for him to have done is just gone purely white ball. He'd have been financially better off and had all of that. But I could always tell he wanted to play Test cricket. I just knew it,' Mahmood said. During the Headingley Test where he took five wickets, Bumrah, at a press conference, expressed his angst when asked about the constant speculation about his injury-ridden future. It's where India's MVP, a captaincy candidate till as recently as the Border Gavaskar Trophy at the end of last year, dropped a line that was about his regret at not being able to be India's long-term captain. It was a rare slip by the guarded professional who weighs every word he utters in public and even maintains a happy expression and positive tone when talking about 'dropped catches.' 'Mann tha, karna bhi tha, but Indian cricket se upar kuch nahi hai. (I wanted it and could do it but there is nothing bigger than Indian cricket),' he said, explaining how the high probability of missing games due to his workload saw him step back. He said it wouldn't be fair to the team, if they can't play all the Tests as it would impact continuity. Can we declare Jasprit Bumrah a national treasure already? 😅 #SonySportsNetwork #GroundTumharaJeetHamari #ENGvIND #NayaIndia #DhaakadIndia #TeamIndia — Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) June 22, 2025 Fast bowlers, the ones putting their body on the line to pursue real speed, are a different breed. Always risking career-threatening injury, they are known to live on the edge. They are cricket's fighter jocks, the proud men who walk around the dressing room with a swagger. The team's popular stars, the batsmen keep a distance from them, but they know their importance. In contrast, the pacers mock the team's star batsmen, they are to them what boyband artists are to hardened rock stars. Even when Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were in the team, no one fooled around with Bumrah. Jofra's mate Mahmood says there are a few no-go areas for him too. While the two trained, they would keep comparing his calf muscles. Jofra would have a retort that only those in 'Club 150' could possibly offer with a comeback line. 'What's the fastest you have bowled?' In a game in the early part of IPL, Jofra, turning up for Rajasthan Royals, took a serious beating. Against SunRisers Hyderabad, he went for 76 in four overs. It proved to be the most expensive IPL spell. Ishan Kishan and Travis Head were responsible for the nightmarish figures. 90 seconds of Jofra Archer being absolutely RAPID 🔥 Happy birthday, @jofraarcher 🎂 — England Cricket (@englandcricket) April 1, 2024 RR coach, the Kiwi speedster Shane Bond, saw how the game impacted Jofra. 'There's no doubt he was hurting a bit. I think that's a credit to how quickly he bounced back. He got back to the training ground, trained brilliantly, was really focused and knew what he wanted to do and had to do,' Bond told the BBC. By the end of the season, that spell was forgotten as Archer ended with 11 wickets. Bumrah too doesn't take injudicious batting adventurism kindly. In the 2024-25 BGT, the young Aussie opener Sam Konstas, their Ishan Kishan, riled Bumrah with his batting bravado. By the end of the tour, the Aussies were rethinking their opening options. The uncertainty over the fitness, and at times even about their pace, has resulted in the two getting targeted by fans. There was a time when it was said that Bumrah would miss India games because of his health but would get magically match-fit during IPL. Jofra too faced taunts during his long recovery and rehabilitation when ECB stood by him. There were comments that Jofra was on the longest paid holiday. Though, used to such sly sledges, there comes a point when it hurts. 'You try to not let it get to you but you can ignore 100 of them but sometimes that 101st is the straw that breaks the camel's back,' he once said. But Jofra would take criticism as motivation. Something that even Bumrah too is good at. Though the pacer now has legions of fans and is considered the team's rare match winner, his every injury coincides with some doomsday prediction. Bumrah, the other day, laughed at the regularity with which he gets written off. 'Everybody is free to write whatever they want. It doesn't matter to me. If those thoughts come into my mind, I will start believing it. I get dictated by what I believe in,' he says. 'I have played cricket on my belief since people have said 'no' to me all my life. First they said you wouldn't be able to play, next they said you will play for 6 months, after 8 months … now I have finished 10 years of international cricket.' And then he would get philosophical, he talks about barkat – the divine favour. 'I prepare the best I can and after that I leave it to the almighty. My barkat will decide how much I play,' he said. Here's hoping Lord's extends divine favour to the two men working towards making Tests great again.


India.com
an hour ago
- India.com
Selection Conundrum: India's Nets Session Hints At Big Changes For 2nd Test VS England
Shubman Gill-led Team India started practice for their next test and Edgbaston. After suffering a gloomy defeat in the first Test at Headingley, Leeds the team has regrouped and is focusing to fix the mistakes that stopped them from starting the series on a high. The Net sessions on Friday gives a major reading and hint of what can be unfolded when India steps in at Edgbaston. Jasprit Bumrah who is expected to miss the second test following his workload management was a present during the net sessions but was out of action not bowling even a single bowl during the day as reported by Times of India. This more or so confirms that Bumrah could miss the second test confirming the reports. Bowling Lineup Overhaul While Bumrah was deadly during the first test taking a fifer in the first innings, lack of support from other end by Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur and Mohammad Siraj proved to be a key reason behind India's defeat. The Indian bowlers loocked lacklustre in second innings failing to defend 371. Prasidh was also absent from training on Friday further hinting that there could be another major change for the next test. Krishna who took five wickets in the game conceded runs at a high rate of over 6 with English batters attacking him in both the innings. Discussions With Head Coach Other than Bumrah and Prasidh's absence, another key story of this training session was lengthy discussions Akashdeep Singh and Arshdeep Dingh had with head coach Gautam Gambhir. Akashdeep was a part of Indian Playing 11 during Border Gavaskar Trophy and did considerably well Down Under. Arshdeep on the other hand is yet to debut in white for India. If Krishna is snubbed, Either of Akashdeep or Arshdeep could join Siraj for next test. Mohammad Siraj spent significant time batting in the nets as India's lower order collapse in both the innings proved to be the difference of the game in hindsight. India's Collapse 1st innings :- 7/41 2nd innings :- 6/31 India squad for five-match Test series: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav