"Was Always Confident Of Doing Well In Tests": Jasprit Bumrah After Record-Breaking Spell In Melbourne

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• Bengali | বাংলা

Jasprit Bumrah broke a 39-year-old Indian record on Friday after he surpassed Dileep Doshi's tally of 40 Tests wickets in a debut year. Spinner Doshi, who played 33 Tests for India, had claimed 40 wickets in his debut year in 1979. Jasprit Bumrah claimed career-best figures of 6/33 in the Boxing Day Test against Australia in Melbourne to accumulate 45 Test wickets in 2018. The 25-year-old fast bowler also became the first bowler from the sub-continent to take a five-wicket haul in South Africa, England and Australia in the same year.

Following the impressive show in his debut Test year, Bumrah expressed how confident he was since the first day. "I always wanted to play Test cricket. People have only seen me in white ball cricket. But I've played a lot of first-class cricket earlier. I was always confident that whenever I get a chance I'll be able to do well," Bumrah said at the press conference.

"When I got an opportunity in South Africa, I was very happy. The start has been good. Hopefully, I keep on learning and keep getting better," he added.

Bumrah made his Test debut against South Africa in Cape Town in January 2018. Since then, he has claimed 39 wickets in eight Test matches. However, he is yet to play the longest format at home.

India were 54/5 at stumps on Day 3, leading Australia by 346 runs in the third Test of the four-match series on Friday. Bumrah might take a few more wickets when Australia come to chase on Saturday or Sunday.

After bowling out Australia for paltry 151, India captain Virat Kohli refused to enforce a follow-on despite a huge 292-run lead. The visitors had declared their first innings at 443/7 and Kohli wanted to make it tougher for the home team in the subsequent innings.

However, Kohli's plan didn't work out as Australia quick Pat Cummins claimed five big wickets in Kohli (0), Hanuma Vihari (13), Cheteshwar Pujara (0) and Ajinkya Rahane (1) to keep the match in balance. Rohit Sharma, who had scored an unbeaten 63-run knock in previous innings, also lost his wicket to Josh Hazlewood for five runs.

Bumrah wasn't much worried with the current state of the number one-ranked Test team and said India would assess the situation tomorrow morning.

"We lost a few more wickets than we wanted to but we'll assess tomorrow morning and we'll try to add as much as we can and then hopefully get them out," he said.