India's top javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has an advice for Indian cricket team fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah on how he can increase his pace. The Olympic gold medalist and reigning world champion said in a recent interaction that he is a fan of Bumrah and he believes that the fast bowler can increase his pace even further if he lengthens his run-up. Neeraj revealed that javelin throwers often discuss cricket and bowling in particular among themselves and this observation came to him during one such discussion.
“I like Jasprit Bumrah, I find his action unique. I feel he should lengthen his run-up to add more pace. As a javelin thrower, we often discuss how bowlers can increase their pace if they start their run-up from a little further back. I like Bumrah's style,” Neeraj said during the Indian Express Idea Exchange.
Neeraj was at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad when India went down fighting against Australia in the Cricket World Cup 2023 final. He recalled his experience of watching the game and even shared some insight from the match.
"This was the first time I watched a match fully. When I was on the flight, India had lost three wickets already. Virat (Kohli) bhai and KL Rahul were batting when I reached. There are some technical things that I don't understand. Batting in the daytime wasn't very easy."
"In the evening, I think, batting became easy. But our guys tried. Sometimes, it's just not our day. But, frankly, everyone had a great tournament," he added.
Speaking about the final, Chopra also pointed out that it was the mentality that ended up being a deciding factor in the Cricket World Cup 2023 final as he believes that Australia had the stronger mindset.
“Maybe, somewhere mentally, the Australian team held an edge at the start. When they bowled, I found they had a strong mindset. In the end, they had completely flipped it over. They were confident about their game,” Chopra explained.