Kolkata: Indian seamer Jasprit Bumrah missed India's recent T20I and ODI series against England after fracturing his thumb against Ireland at the end of June, but is aiming to make a return for the Test series, which starts on August 1.India suffered their first bilateral ODI series loss since January 2016 against England this summer. Despite the defeat, Bumrah insists morale is high, with the whole squad aiming towards the same goal at next year's ICC Cricket World Cup.
"The team, as a unit, is very close," Bumrah told the Mumbai Indians officialwebsite."Everybody is really happy. Everybody is enjoying each other's success. There is no jealousy. Everybody is happy when the team is doing well," he said.
"We've done well in the past two-three years. There are no individual goals that a specific player wants to achieve. It's a team goal. The team is shaping up really well for the World Cup too," Bumrah said.
Bumrah will make his World Cup debut at next summer's tournament, and he believes
team unity will be crucial as India build up to CWC19."As a team, if everybody is close and everybody wants to do everything for the team, that is a very good sign moving forward," he added.
"So that is a very, very positive sign which will help us in the foreign tours or the next
tours which are coming up," he said.Bumrah injured his thumb in the 2nd T20I against Ireland and subsequently missed out on being a part of the limited-overs leg in England. With Bhuvaneshwar Kumar down with a stiff back, Jasprit could only watch as India without either of its premier strike bowlers went down to England in the ODI series. Now, on his way back after the injury and visibly upbeat the pacer opened up on a host of topics ahead of the
all-important Test Series.
"I always wanted to play Test cricket. My longtime dream was to play Tests. I was happy when I finally got to play it in South Africa," the right-arm pacer told us when asked about what the longest format meant to him," Bumrah said.
"The start also went well. I always loved Test cricket and I rate it very highly. I enjoy playing each and every format but for me, Test cricket is at the paramount level because I feel everything is tested at that level," he added.
Bumrah had an impressive debut series against South Africa earlier this year. He picked his maiden 5-wicket haul in the third and final Test against the hosts in Johannesburg.The 24-year-old quick has become a shoo-in in the limited overs side and hopes to perform well in the longer format too.
"Hopefully, whenever I play more, I'll be able to do well and gain more confidence.
So that will reflect on other formats as well," Bumrah said. "I never plan according to the tour or I don't have any personal goals. I take it one day at a time. If there's a practice session, I just focus on the practice session," Bumrah told when asked about his plans before he flies off to England to join team India ahead of their marathon five-match Test series.
On being asked about the transition from white ball cricket to red ball cricket, Jasprit spoke about the importance of simplicity, "For me basically, I like to keep things simple. Not to complicate things because as you play a lot more, you tend to complicate things."
"So, what I try to do is -- keep things simple. As a bowler, I know what my strengths are. If I know that I'm very accurate, I will try to focus on it. I always believe that if I'm backing my strength, I'll be able to do well be it in India or in any other country," he concluded.(UNI)