India's X-factor player, Jasprit Bumrah will lead the pace attack on England tour. In the absence of recently retired Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin, Bumrah's experience will come in handy. The pacer led India in Australia but did not take up captaincy on England tour as he may not play all five Tests. The 31-year-old recalled how young Australian cricketers tried to copy his unique bowling action and opened up about giving back to the sport.
"This is a sport that I fell in love with. I went to Australia this time, and a lot of youngsters came up to me and tried to copy my [bowling] action. Which is surreal because I used to do that. So yeah, this journey will not always go on, but whenever it ends, I want to give it back to the sport. Because whatever I have and whatever I have learnt in life is through this sport. Thankful to the journey that I have had," Bumrah told former Australia captain Michael Clarke on the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast.
Bumrah has been part of Indian teams which qualified for World Test Championship (WTC) 2019-21 final, ODI World Cup 2023 final and won the T20 World Cup 2024. The premier pacer understands he won't be able to continue for a long time and said that he will draw curtains on his career the day he realised his body is not up to the mark.
"It is tough for any individual to keep playing everything for so long. I have been doing it for a while. But eventually, you have to understand where your body is going and what the important tournaments are, so you have to be a little selective and smart about how you use your body. Obviously, as a cricketer, I would never want to leave anything and always keep on going.
"At this moment, I am ok. But I don't set goals such as this is the number I should be at. I look at it one day at a time. The journey is going good so far, but the day I realise that the drive is gone or the effort is not there or my body is not holding up, that is the time when you make the decision," added Bumrah.
Bumrah's next major assignment is in England against the Ben Stokes-led side. Before that, he will be seen in action when Mumbai Indians (MI) go up against Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 Eliminator in Mullanpur on May 30.