Jasprit Bumrah credits short run-up to backyard cricket

Indian fast bowling sensation Jasprit Bumrah has revealed that the reason behind his short run-up is him playing backyard cricket during his childhood days. The right-arm pacer also feels that a longer run-up won't make a difference to his current bowling speed.

In conversation with Ian Bishop and Shaun Pollock on an ICC Podcast, Jasprit Bumrah elaborated on his short and a simple run-up which, surprisingly, yielded immediate results on the international stage. He revealed how he modelled his action and bowling through self-teaching and by watching several videos. He didn't put much effort into modelling his action according to a specific style.

Despite criticism of his bowling run-up, Jasprit Bumrah maintained that changing his action never came to his mind and he continues to concentrate on developing his skills and believing in himself.

“Basically, I have never been coached a lot. No professional coaching or camps. Till date, everything is self-taught, everything, through TV, videos. There is no proper reason for my action.”

“I have never really listened to people who told that action needs to be changed, kept on developing on strengths if I could have self-belief... Playing in the backyard... My run-up is because of that as we didn’t have so much of space, so this (8 step run-up) is the longest that you could have had, maybe this could have been the case.”

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Jasprit Bumrah feels that a long run-up won't change his speed

Jasprit Bumrah feels that a longer run-up won't change his bowling speed

The pacer, who is well known for his death bowling and toe-crushing yorkers, feels that a longer run-up won't change his speed. He added that this was the very reason that stopped him from running a long distance to bowl each ball.

“I have tried longer run-up and nothing changes, speed is still the same so why to run so much.”

In his short career so far, Jasprit Bumrah has 231 international wickets to go along with his 82 scalps in IPL cricket.