India ace fast-bowler Jasprit Bumrah expressed that to his generation of players, “Test cricket is King” and credited red-ball format for developing his “skills and art of taking wickets”, adding that “Test cricket will find a way” to survive in the future as the format is currently struggling in front of a congested cricketing calendar.
“I am of that generation where Test cricket is king. I will always judge myself on it. Yes I started with IPL but I learned to bowl through first-class cricket; that’s where I developed my skill, the art of taking wickets. In Test cricket you have to get the batsman out and that challenges you as a bowler,” Bumrah told The Guardian.
“T20s, ODIs, some days you might send down five slower balls and get five guys out, when in a Test match they wouldn’t have taken one. There is no luck in Test cricket, the better team wins, you cannot take 20 wickets through luck. I was never happy with just white-ball cricket and Test cricket is still the utmost format for me.
“I don’t know how the youngsters look at it. But Test cricket has been around this long, it will find a way. Every format has its place – too much Test cricket would be boring, too much white ball the same. I think the sport needs a little bit of everything, rather than an overdose of one format or the other,” he added.
Bumrah is the most experienced member of India’s pace pack that will line-up for the first of five Tests against England in Hyderabad starting January 25.
Speaking of aggressive approach “Bazball” which England have adopted in the Brendon McCullum-Ben Stokes regime, the Indian ace stated that he does not really relate to the term and pointed out that it will help him as a bowler.
“I don’t really relate to the term Bazball. But they are playing successful cricket and the aggressive route of taking the opposition on, showing the world there’s another way to play Test cricket.
“As a bowler, what I think is that it keeps me in play. And if they’re going for it, playing so fast, they won’t tire me out, I could get heaps of wickets. I always think about how I can use things to my advantage. Kudos to them but, as a bowler, you’re in the game,” he said.
The series, which is a part of the ICC World Test Championship, provides India with the chance to go to the top of the standings. They are currently placed below Australia with two wins and a draw in four Tests.
Having lost only three Test matches at home in the past decade, India are favourites to seal a series victory against the touring England side.