The personal quest for excellence that drives Jasprit Bumrah is the secret to his extraordinary success and the Indian spearhead is not burdened by carrying his side's young bowling lineup on his back.
Bumrah does not try and live up to the benchmarks of other people's expectations. He sets his own and sets them high.
After day three of the rain-interrupted third Test against Australia at the Gabba the 31-year-old described in detail what motivates him and how he copes with the pressure that accompanies him each time he leads the India attack.
Bumrah has succeeded all around the world in a variety of conditions on his way to 191 Test wickets at a stunning average of 19.73.
In the current Border-Gavaskar Trophy series the world's No.1-ranked bowler has 18 wickets at 11.72. That includes his 6-76 in Australia's first innings of 455, to which India had replied with 4-51 at stumps.
Bumrah was asked how he handled the pressure of leading India's attack.
"I cannot take on extra baggage," he said.
"When I was younger I maybe used to take extra baggage off fans and opinions. Now I don't take any opinions seriously.
"I don't really get very happy with people singing praises or having expectations of me.
"I look at myself and ask one question at the end of the day ...'have I given it my absolute best?'
"If I have then I will accept the results. I cannot carry someone else's energy or baggage or if people are expecting me to do the heavy lifting. When I come to any scenario I try to use my experience and give it my best shot."
Bumrah is a problem solver. He has found a way to shine this series on the vagaries of pitches in Perth, Adelaide with the pink ball and the Gabba.
"I always find different challenges very interesting," he said.
"I always look to find answers. That has always been my biggest happiness. If I come across a problem or a certain situation I look at it as, 'how can I solve it? What can I do?'
"It is not about whingeing, complaining or pointing fingers. I look at myself. I have been happy with how the ball has been coming out."
India's pace attack at the Gabba includes Akash Deep and Nitish Kumar Reddy, playing their sixth and third Tests respectively. It is why Bumrah would not entertain criticising his teammates for not doing better so far on tour,. "As a bowling unit we are in transition so it is my job to help the others. Everyone will learn, get through it and become better eventually," he said. "We are a new team and we have to be considerate and give them that cushion that they will learn from experience. This is the journey every team will go through." Bumrah was pragmatic about India's inability to restrict Australia No.5 Travis Head who has scored consecutive hundreds to put India on the back foot in the series.
"It is a puzzle that sometimes you can solve but sometimes if somebody plays well you just have to say 'well played'," he said.
"We are trying solutions (to Head's effectiveness) and hopefully in further games we have the answers."
