‘You just need to keep practising’ - Mukesh Kumar reveals how Jasprit Bumrah’s advice helped him

The Indian team recently introduced a plethora of new players to their squad; the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, and many more stepped up and made their mark on international cricket. One such name was 29-year-old Mukesh Kumar.

The pacer rose to fame from his performances in domestic cricket and the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Furthermore, he recently made his India debut when the side took on the West Indies in a multi-format series.

Following his debut, Mukesh came forward to state how the advice of star pacer Jasprit Bumrah did him a world of good and was a big advantage to him. Despite having a long way to go to be a regular in the Indian squad, the 29-year-old knows just what he needs to do to be one of the best.

"Alongside elaborating about his approach while bowling, which is about analysing the match situation and trying to read the batsman’s mind, Bumrah bhai also told me about proper usage of the slower ball. ‘You just need to keep practising it till you feel you have perfected the art’. That’s what he had told me," Mukesh told The Telegraph while he was in Dublin for India’s recent T20I tour to Ireland.

I didn’t have much faith in the slower one: Kumar

Furthermore, Mukesh  also opined that he did not have that much faith in the slower ball as the quantity of power hitters has been increasing in world cricket and the slower ball is something that is hard to master. However, the pacer opined that after a talk with Bumrah, he understood the delivery’s importance. 

"I didn’t have much faith in the slower one, especially in limited-overs cricket. There are many power-hitters now, so if you don’t get the slower ball right, they will keep putting it away. But after speaking to Bumrah bhai, I’ll be looking to try and increase the percentage of the slower balls depending upon the match situation," Mukesh said.