11 October - Delhi - India player Jasprit Bumrah post-match press conference
[Reporter:]
How satisfied are you with a performance like this because you bowled across three spells and conditions weren't easy for seamers and bowling in three spells. It was a different approach you showcased in all three spells with the new ball and the old ball. So as a bowler like you, were you kind of satisfied with the versatility you were able to showcase?
And one last question on that bit only, what would you prefer as a bowler, a seaming track or a track like this where you were made to work hard for the wickets?
[Jasprit Bumrah:]
Look, you've asked too many things I will not remember. But I am not result oriented. Just because I have taken four wickets, that doesn't mean that I am very, very happy or I have done something extraordinary. I just go with my preparation. I go with the process that I feel is right. I try to read the wickets and try to find the best answers that work on that wicket.
As simple as that, not thinking about the results because I've got results today. I'm very, very good, that doesn't work in my book. I try to back my strengths, try to read the wicket, and try to give my best.
[Reporter:]
Just to get an idea, how tough was it for a fast bowler to bowl today on the Kotla wicket?
[Jasprit Bumrah:]
We played a few games in the afternoon. Out of all the afternoon venues, Today was actually not too bad. It was a little breezy, it was not very, very hot. So, I would take this day in terms of weather for sure.
[Reporter:]
You talked about reading wickets. In white ball cricket generally, we talk a lot about variations and your yorkers and bouncers and everything. How important is it to stick to the test match length for you when it comes to a longer format?
[Jasprit Bumrah:]
See obviously in this format you have to understand what is working. So, some days there would be some swings so your lengths would change. But this wicket was quite a batting track that we realised early on as well when we started bowling. There was a little bit of seam but the ball was coming on to the bat really well from the first over so we realised that. So, we are just trying to hit the hard length, try to make it as difficult as possible and try to make them hit difficult shots. So that was the plan and probably trying to do that.
[Reporter:]
It's been around one and a half months since your comeback. Do you feel that you've been getting better with every game or have you felt right from the first game that you played I think in the Asia Cup that you are on top or how have you been feeling basically with each game that you have played?
[Jasprit Bumrah:]
See at the end of the day you guys will anyway decide that this is, I was like this, I was like that, what I am doing. So, but I don't work like that. As I told you, I look at on that day what I have to do. I look at my preparations. And I am a little detached person. I don't know what's going around in the world. So, I just looked at what I have to do at that particular day and obviously reading the game, reading your strengths that what has worked for me in the past as well, keeping all of those things in mind, keep going forward.
[Reporter:]
Every time you know someone, a batter gets ahead of you in a particular game, you seem to get that particular batter in the next game, whether it's mismatch in the previous match or this time as well. Is that something you keep note of? How do you look at sometimes when batters dominate you? Do you have that fast bowler's ego of sorts. How do you approach that?
[Jasprit Bumrah:]
Not really. We play so much of cricket that I don't even remember a lot of the games that happened. Yes, obviously, you keep learning from your past experiences what happens. But I don't keep a tab on what's happened, what's happening, or maybe somebody's got the better of me. I don't think like that.
[Reporter:]
First of all, going ahead to the next game, do you get that feeling of playing at home? Is that any different? Of course, it's the World Cup, but it's at Ahmedabad. Is that the feeling of homecoming in some sense? What's the feeling when you play in front of your home crowd?
[Jasprit Bumrah:]
Yeah, obviously I've been away for a while now. I'll be happy to see my mother at home. I'm going to see her. That's the first basic thing for me. It's obviously playing at home. I have not played a one day international there. I played a test match. So yeah, the atmosphere is going to be exciting. I'm sure a lot of people are going to come. So, it will be a sight to see. So yeah, hoping for the best over there.
[Reporter:]
Net run rate. Is there a conversation around it already? I mean, especially given that there are other teams that have sort of gone up the table because of how the margins in the way they won. Is there a conversation? Was that a conversation that you know, when we're playing a team like Afghanistan, we'd like to win by a larger margin because that net run rate might come into play?
[Jasprit Bumrah:]
No, no, not at all. We were not looking at net run rate from the beginning and we did not know that Rohit will give us such a head start. So obviously I don't think there was any conversation this early in the tournament but yeah, really happy with the way the game went and we finished it off early as well
[Reporter:]
This performance must have given improved your confidence more. Looking to the match ahead where Shaheen Shah Afridi and Kharis Raoof and also batsmen like Rizwan and Babar Azam are there. So, it will help you there this confidence.
[Jasprit Bumrah:]
See every team will have batsmen, every team will have bowlers. We also have batsmen; we also have bowlers. We're not preparing any special for any special team Yes, we're looking at ourselves more than the others because we've realized that if we focus on our team, we focus on our strengths everything else takes care of itself. So we are focusing on our team, our preparation. If everything that is there in our control, we control that, that gives us the best chance. So that is what our team is focusing on.
[Reporter:]
If it's not too much of a secret, what was this about?
[Jasprit Bumrah:]
I don't know. It just came, so I did it.
[Reporter:]
People's interest in ODI cricket is fading out and all. So, do you think that this World Cup can revive or reignite that interest?
[Jasprit Bumrah:]
That depends on the interest because maybe the longer game is sometimes difficult for people to watch and keep a tab on. But at the end of the day, I come from a generation which loves cricket. I watched Test Match and that was my favourite format. So, I probably would not be able to relate to that because I love watching the game. I love watching the longest format of the game. So yeah, probably you'll have to ask a person who's a little younger than me.
[Reporter:]
And also, can you talk about your celebration that it was quite like Rashford, if I'm not wrong?
[Jasprit Bumrah:]
Nothing like that. I just felt like it, so I did it.