There is a different vibe to the Indian team the moment one gentleman checks in. Jasprit Bumrah was back at the Kotla, all smiles with a spring in his step and display of his wide array of skill sets that kept a 15-year-old teen sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi on toes. The last time when Sooryavanshi received his maiden call up, Bumrah was not a part of the T20 set-up in the UK, and joined for the ODIs. Under the Kotla lights, India’s greatest ever paceman decided to ask a few probing questions to a Gen Alpha superstar in making.
The first delivery pitched on good length and as Sooryavanshi jabbed at it, he missed it completely.
The next delivery at same length found the little one hurried as it passed his bat before it came down.
The third one was a perfect yorker that Sooryavanshi just about managed to dig it out.
The fourth one was bowled slightly back of length and all the youngster could manage was a healthy nick.
Four deliveries and the master craftsman had given a trailer of what Sooryavanshi might have to face at the highest level from countries with better pace attacks.
There was one delivery from Bumrah which was slightly over pitched and the Boy Wonder dispatched it through the covers.
It wasn’t one of the best training sessions for Sooryavanshi, who missed at least three aerial catches during fielding drills and played and missed against all the pacers.
Yash Thakur, who had received some rough treatment in the Duleep Trophy semi finals, also beat him, and so did Arshdeep Singh with some appreciable seam movement.
But if one man stole the show, it had to be Bumrah. He bowled a few deliveries to skipper Shreyas Iyer who was beaten for pace both on inside and outside edges.
The pace was there, so was the swag and that smile of a man secured about his craft and sure about himself.
Jasprit Bumrah is back in the nets and there was happiness in every nook and corner of Kotla.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)