Jasprit Bumrah gave himself time. He was in the middle of a classic fielding drill. It was two runs to win off one ball. The ball was driven towards him with some force by India's fielding coach, Subhadeep Ghosh. Bumrah's job was to pick the ball up, then hit the stumps to effect a run out and seal the win.
Training had started 40 minutes late for the India team, at 6.40pm, ahead of their T20I series against Afghanistan, which begins on Sunday. A steady drizzle had made the dry Delhi heat bearable, and it was on the moist turf that Bumrah went through his motions.
He collected the ball, but did not rush into the throw. He took a moment longer than usual to aim, straightening his front arm like a rod. Then, he took out all three stumps.
Bumrah's patience on his return to India training was evident, even once he moved to the fast-bowling nets. He bowled alongside Arshdeep Singh, Yash Thakur and Nitish Kumar Reddy. He held his grip up towards the floodlights, testing it out; he joked with his team-mates. Even before that, he had brought out the measuring tape.
He needed it because for most of his long spell in the nets, he bowled with an unfamiliar, remarkably long run-up. At times, even a third longer than we are used to seeing from him. Three markers were set up: a black bottle stood the farthest, the spot where he began from; a red bottle was closest to the stumps, to mark the leap; in between was an India cap, where he broke into his run from a saunter.
Maybe the markers were incidental. But it is worth staying with Bumrah's action for a moment more. It has been finessed over the past decade to perfection: he shuffles for a bit, then jogs in, then lands with a braced front knee, both his arms ramrod straight, his hyperextended right hand flinging the delivery forward.
That old run-up went through multiple iterations on Friday evening. He shortened it, then lengthened it, again and again. At times, he was starting from behind the mark Arshdeep Singh was running in from.
All this might be because Bumrah has had a strange year. He bowled India to a home T20 World Cup win at the start of March. Then he took just four wickets at the IPL with an average of 102.50, operating below his best both in terms of pace and accuracy. Soon after, a left knee injury resurfaced. He missed an ODI in England, then two Tests in Sri Lanka. He was declared fit after his rehab at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, and just a day later, here he was, experimenting with his run-up in Delhi.
Even during the IPL, Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene had said that Bumrah was encountering "issues" with his run-up throughout the season. It resulted in several front-foot no-balls, which were "to do with the build-up", in Jayawardene's opinion. Based on Friday's evidence, the work has continued.
Bumrah's longer run-up consisted of ten steps of walking in with long strides, then breaking into 16 quick-burst steps, before jumping into the trademark delivery action.
He used this extended run-up early on to pitch a full one, outside off, to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Sooryavanshi was tempted into a drive but the ball angled away and caught a thick outside edge. Bumrah held his arms up and launched into a pantomime celebration.
He troubled Sanju Samson near his stumps, yorked Shivam Dube and celebrated with some glee. Near the end of the evening, he kept Ishan Kishan - in fantastic ball-striking form all evening - quiet by angling deliveries straight at the stumps, then getting them to jag away. This was off a shorter run-up, though.
There were times when the rhythm was missing when he used the extended run-up, though. He seemed to slow down once in a way while running in, and he aborted his run-up midway more than once. So, against Kishan, Bumrah had gone back to the more familiar action.
After this spell of play, Bumrah called Navdeep Saini, a net bowler for this session, to take over his spot. He took in the cloudy Delhi sky, then broke into a smile and some banter.
If fit enough, Bumrah will be playing three T20Is in the space of five days. His job this evening was done. Whether or not Bumrah adopts this new run-up straightaway into international cricket remains to be seen - perhaps it was just a training drill - but he has, done what he could have done. The journey just took a few more steps than usual.
