Mitchell Johnson: “He keeps things simple and doesn’t try to overcomplicate things”

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Former Australia left-arm seamer Mitchell Johnson has attributed India seamer Jasprit Bumrah’s success to the fact that he “keeps things simple and doesn’t try to overcomplicate things”.

Johnson has played alongside Bumrah for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL), and has watched him develop into one of the country’s most talented pace bowlers.

Bumrah has excelled in limited overs cricket, and is now starting to make his presence felt in Test cricket.

In the five Tests he has played thus far, he has taken 25 wickets at an average of 22.88.

In the ongoing five-Test series against England, Bumrah has featured in two Tests and claimed 11 wickets, which includes a match-winning five-wicket haul in the third Test in Nottingham, at an average of 19.90.

“He has impressed me from Day 1. I remember facing him in the (Mumbai) nets and he hit me on the helmet with a short ball and I thought he was quick. He keeps things simple and doesn’t try to overcomplicate things,” Johnson told The Times of India as quoted by the International Cricket Council’s website.

With Bumrah having made a superb start to his Test career, which includes two five-wicket hauls, Johnson is confident that he will get increasingly better as time progresses.

“There was a point when a batsman had started to get on top of him (in the Indian Premier League) and we had a chat regarding this,” he said. “I told him that he needed to think ahead of the game. He is in the right environment at the moment and getting better with each match. Bumrah’s pace, coupled with his accuracy, is impressive.”