'Just be yourself and enjoy' - Jasprit Bumrah reveals MS Dhoni's advice in his debut game

Jasprit Bumrah is one of the greatest discoveries of Indian cricket in the past decade; someone who with his awkward action, ferocious speed, pin-point accuracy, immaculate control, and discipline, has captured the imagination of 1.3 billion cricket fanatics whose lifelong dream was to see an Indian bowler instill fear in the opposition around the world with his ferocious speed and accuracy.

Bumrah was first spotted by the Mumbai Indians talent scouting team where his deadly accuracy in landing yorkers at will and at pace, impressed the then coach John Wright. Bumrah bagged an IPL contract with the franchise in 2014 and courtesy brilliant performances for the four-time champions, the Gujarat pacer quickly rose to national reckoning. Bumrah was handed a national call-up for the T20I series during the 2016 Indian tour of Australia.

The champion fast bowler opened up about his debut game and the feelings that were rampant in his mind. Bumrah revealed he was nervous before his debut game and how MS Dhoni’s advice helped him. The right-hander said that he was surprised at the fact that no senior came to talk to him before his debut game and it was only when he was going to bowl his first over in international cricket that skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni came up to him and advised him to just enjoy the occasion.

“Nobody came up to me, nobody said anything, but MS came up and said just be yourself and enjoy,” Jasprit Bumrah revealed in CricBuzz show Spicy Pitch.

Jasprit Bumrah had an impressive debut ODI game in Sydney

The story of Bumrah’s debut game was indeed something. The right-hander was a last-minute call-up to the One-day squad after Mohammed Shami was ruled due to injury. And, as luck would have it, Bhuvneshwar Kumar too got injured in the lead-up to the final ODI in Sydney. Bumrah revealed that then team director Ravi Shastri came to him on the eve of the fifth ODI that he would be starting first.

And, Bumrah made his mark in his very first game. On a pitch where the experienced bowlers were struggling to control the flow of runs, Bumrah bowled 30 dot balls in his quota of ten overs and claimed 2/40 which included the wicket of Steve Smith. Four years later, Bumrah is one of the best fast bowlers in the current era and spearhead of the Indian bowling unit.