‘Tests make you a complete cricketer’

India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who is often termed as the world's best fast bowler, has said people assume that he earned is place into Team India on the basis of his performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) but that is not the actual case.

The Indian pacer made this revelation during a live session on Instagram with former India batsman Yuvraj Singh.

Bumrah first hogged the limelight through his unconventional bowling action during his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians in 2013. The then 19-year-old Bumrah picked 3 wickets in his debut game against RCB.

"That I made it to the Indian team by my performances in the IPL is a myth. 2013 is when I came into the IPL then 2013, 2014, 2015 I was not playing regularly. I did well in (Vijay) Hazare and in domestic circuit then I came into the Indian team in 2016," Bumrah told Yuvraj.

Bumrah made his ODI and T20I India debut in 2016 and earned the Test call-up in 2018. The 26-year-old has been a regular in all three formats and is known for his toe-crushing yorkers and death-over spells.

"Many people told me that I won't play for long, there was an expectation that the last person to play for the country would be me. They told me that I would just play the Ranji Trophy. But I kept on improving and I persisted with my action," said 26-year-old Bumrah when Yuvraj asked him about his unusual bowling action.

Bumrah also stressed on the importance of the longest-format of the game, saying one becomes a complete cricketer only after playing Test matches.

"Bowlers come up to me and say ODI T20 thik hai (ODIs, T20I is okay). But they forget, Tests make you a complete cricketer," Bumrah said.

"You have to play Test cricket to survive in the long run," he added.

Bumrah has gone to play 64 ODIs, 50 T20s and 14 Tests. He made his Test debut in January 2018 and in a quick time, he became Virat Kohli's go-to bowler even in the five-day format.