'All the bowlers have been tremendous' - Bharat Arun on India's pace bowling revolution

The outgoing bowling coach of the Indian men’s cricket team Bharat Arun has spoken about the pace-bowling revolution which the national team has seen in the last few years. He was recently replaced by Paras Mhambrey, who has been serving a similar role in the India A and U-19 teams for the past few years. 

Arun joined the Indian team when Ravi Shastri took over as the head coach after the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017. Under Arun, the Indian team found a strong core of pacers who helped them win the Test series in Australia twice and even have a lead of 2-1 in a series in England. 

Arun in a recent interview with Cricbuzz spoke about how the developments of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj impress him the most. He was asked among the current crop of Indian pacers, whose developments have impressed him the most. He talked about the improvements bowlers like Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Umesh Yadav have had during his tenure.

Bumrah is extremely hungry to excel in the Tests, that is his dream: Bharat Arun

“All the bowlers have been tremendous. When I took over, Shami, Ishant, Bhuvi, and Umesh were already there. I can proudly say that their consistency levels have improved tremendously. Their understanding of their skills is much better now. The development of Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah has proved that they belonged to the international level straightaway,” Arun said. 

Speaking further, Arun recalled that he sees that Bumrah wants to succeed at the Test level. He revealed that he was brought into the Indian Test team with the request made by Shastri and skipper Virat Kohli. Bumrah made his debut in the South African tour of 2017-18, which is when the whole chapter of the Indian pace-bowling revolution can be traced back to having started then. 

“That was very heartening. Bumrah is extremely hungry to excel in the Tests. That is his dream. Many rate him as a great white ball bowler but I know deep down he wants to be the top Test bowler. He believes he can do that. In 2018, Ravi and Virat asked the selectors to pick him for the Test series against South Africa. It was a great call. The rest is history,” Arun said.