NEW DELHI: Jasprit Bumrah, while keeping his cards close to his chest regarding the final playing eleven for the first Test against Australia, hinted at the team management’s strong belief in Nitish Kumar Reddy‘s all-round capabilities.
Bumrah acknowledged that Reddy’s skills could be instrumental in achieving the desired balance for the Indian team.
As captain, Bumrah has been impressed by the clarity and composure displayed by the young players, particularly in the context of their debut Test series in Australia.
The squad features several newcomers on their maiden Test tour to Australia, including Reddy, fast bowler Harshit Rana, Devdutt Padikkal, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Prasidh Krishna, and Dhruv Jurel.
“Reddy is quite talented and we are positive about him. You have seen in IPL also, he believes in his game,” Bumrah said at the pre-match media conference on Thursday.
Bumrah commended the fearless and level-headed approach exhibited by this new generation of players.
“The best thing about youngsters in our team is that when you talk to them, no one looks confused, overawed,” he said.
He expressed his confidence in their willingness to take on responsibility and embrace challenges.
“When you have belief in your abilities, you get a lot of confidence as a leader that a youngster wants to perform the tough job. He wants responsibility and wants to be thrown at the deep end of the pool as they want to prove themselves. Nothing could be more heartening for a captain.”
While Virat Kohli’s recent form has been a topic of discussion, Bumrah remains certain about the Indian batting mainstay’s readiness, viewing it as a positive sign for the team.
“I don’t have to say anything about Kohli the batter. I have made my (Test) debut under him. I don’t need to give him any kind of special inputs and he is the utmost professional you have in our team and he is one of the leaders.”
Drawing from his experience of two previous Test tours to Australia, Bumrah emphasized the career-defining impact of performing well in these conditions.
He stressed the importance of self-belief as the driving force behind success, regardless of experience.
“If you believe you are good enough, then you can make an impact. It doesn’t matter if you have played 100 Tests or 50 Tests. What matters is what is going on inside you. If I believe I can do it, it can make a difference.”
Bumrah acknowledged the lessons learned from the 0-3 defeat against New Zealand but emphasized the team’s focus on a fresh start.
“On a given day, anyone can make a difference and doesn’t matter who you are, because you gain experience by playing, nobody is born with experience and if that self-belief is there that’s what matters.”
He emphasized the need to move forward while incorporating the insights gained from past experiences.
“Obviously, we won the World Cup doesn’t mean that we become complacent and obviously we were disappointed and we had a tough series last time but we are not carrying any baggage. We need to absorb the learnings (from NZ series) and move on. The conditions in India were different and conditions here are different and we have had very different results over here.”
Bumrah imparted valuable advice to the younger players, highlighting the importance of handling setbacks with the same resilience as successes.
“Our players know how to handle good and bad days. Like good days, you need to learn to cope up with bad days too if you need to play international cricket.”