One can sense an air of assuredness about Mukesh Kumar following his India debut against the West Indies in all formats of the game.

Mukesh may still need to cover some more distance to move up in the pecking order of India’s quicks, but the 29-year-old bowler is well aware of the boxes he needs to tick for cementing his place in the national squad.

The presence of Jasprit Bumrah — who made his comeback in the Ireland T20Is in Dublin earlier this month — was “a big advantage” for the Bengal pacer. Besides taking regular tips from India’s pace spearhead, Mukesh is also keen on mastering the slower delivery after his discussions with Bumrah in Ireland.

“Alongside elaborating about his approach while bowling, which is about analysing the match situation and trying to read the batsman’s mind, Bumrahbhai also told me about proper usage of the slower ball. ‘You just need to keep practising it till you feel you have perfected the art’. That’s what he had told me,” Mukesh told The Telegraph while he was in Dublin.

"I didn’t have much faith in the slower one, especially in limited-overs cricket. There are many power-hitters now, so if you don’t get the slower ball right, they will keep putting it away. But after speaking to Bumrahbhai, I’ll be looking to try and increase the percentage of the slower balls depending upon the match situation,” Mukesh, currently in recovery mode before joining the Asian Games camp at the NCA (National Cricket Academy) next month, explained.

Since this year’s IPL, which was also his first, Mukesh has certainly come across as an improved white-ball bowler. “In ODIs, the ball does move a little bit, till around the first five-six overs. What's important is the areas you bowl at. If you bowl the right length, you will surely get some purchase no matter how the pitch is. The focus (in the T20Is) was on conceding as few runs as possible. And yeah, I tried to bowl as many yorkers. Now if I can master the slower one, I can do even better,” Mukesh said.

Just as it is for any other cricketer, for Mukesh too, his Test debut, in Port of Spain against the Windies, in July was a special moment.

“There was a toss-up between me and Axar Patel, but after seeing the pitch that morning, Rahul (Dravid) Sir told me I would play. That has to be one of the biggest moments of my life."