2018 was a breakthrough year for Jasprit Bumrah in Test cricket. Having made his debut, at the very start of the year, in the Test series against South Africa, Bumrah shrugged the tag of 'white-ball specialist', to end the year with 48 wickets in just nine matches at 21.02 with three five-wicket hauls. He was India's leading wicket-taker in Tests that year and fourth-best overall. However, there was one innings where Bumrah had failed to live up to expectation, leaving then India skipper Virat Kohli utterly upset at him before he was advised by a senior fast bowler to leave him alone.
Ishant Sharma, the aforementioned senior fast bowler, knew very quickly that Bumrah had leadership abilities and would soon become the spearhead of India's attack. The veteran of 105 Test matches admitted that he was aware of Bumrah's ability to judge situation and his maturity as well.
Hence, when Kohli was left upset at Bumrah following a poor spell in one of the Test matches in Australia in the 2018/19 series, he had stopped the skipper from having a word with him, as he recalled in his conversation with Cricbuzz on the first episode of 'Rise of New India'.
“I knew a day would come when Bumrah would become a leader. I remember in 2018, when we were playing a Test match in Australia and his first spell did not go well. Virat told me ‘I think I should go and speak to him’. I said ‘ He is a very smart bowler. He understands it. Usko chhor de. Usko pata hai kya karna, kya nehi karna (Leave him alone. He knows what he needs to do). In that way he is very smart. He understands the game and he understands the situation.' When you understand the situation, especially in Test cricket, you can make a comeback very quickly,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“I knew a day would come when Bumrah would become a leader. I remember in 2018, when we were playing a Test match in Australia and his first spell did not go well. Virat told me ‘I think I should go and speak to him’. I said ‘ He is a very smart bowler. He understands it. Usko chhor de. Usko pata hai kya karna, kya nehi karna (Leave him alone. He knows what he needs to do). In that way he is very smart. He understands the game and he understands the situation.' When you understand the situation, especially in Test cricket, you can make a comeback very quickly,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Bumrah had ended the series as the best bowler with 21 wickets in four matches at just 17 with a five-wicket haul as well as India scripted a historic Test series win Down Under.