Jasprit Bumrah credits Ranji Trophy for his success after Kerry O'Keefe's disrespectful comment

Former Australia cricketer Kerry O’Keefe had kicked up a storm with his derogatory comment over India’s premier first-class competition Ranji Trophy. O’Keefe had made the comment to take a shot at debutant Mayank Agarwal who had a dream run in the last edition of the Ranji Trophy. The Karnataka star had scored over 1,000 runs including his maiden first-class triple century.

However, O’Keefe made a disrespectful comment towards Agarwal, saying that the batsman would have got his triple hundred in the Ranji Trophy against a team that had “Railways canteen staff”. Ever since the comment came out, O’Keefe has been facing the heat. He had issued a statement immediately, apologizing and clearing his comment but the damage was already done.

On Thursday, India head coach Ravi Shastri had taken a cheeky dig at the former cricketer and the latest to follow the suit is Jasprit Bumrah. The India pacer starred with the ball on day three as the visitors bowled out the hosts for a paltry 151. Spitting fire on a much-maligned pitch, Bumrah ended with career-best figures of 6 for 33 to put India well on top. And at the end of the day, he made sure to credit his success to Ranji Trophy, the competition which was disrespected by O’Keefe.

Ranji Trophy the secret behind success

Speaking at the end of the day, Bumrah, while taking a shot at O’Keefe, said that India’s pacers were trying to use their first-class experience to get the Kookaburra ball to reverse swing. On a pitch, where the Australian bowlers managed to take just seven wickets in two days, the likes of Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami reversed the ball brilliantly.

“When we play on similar wickets back home, the ball reverses. So you try to make the most of it. We were trying to use our experience in First-Class cricket where we have bowled with reverse-swinging balls. That was the plan,” Bumrah told BCCI in an interview.

Bumrah also insisted that first-class cricket played a bigger role than his Indian Premier League (IPL) stints with Mumbai Indians in shaping up his Test and ODI careers, “… Yes, I have played in the IPL. But for Test match cricket, I always credit first-class cricket. IPL is four overs but over there you have to continuously bowl. So first-class cricket has really helped shape my career, even in ODI cricket and Test matches,” Bumrah said.

India, meanwhile, suffered a big collapse on day three but are still at the top in Melbourne.

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