The cricketing world is in awe of Jasprit Bumrah. He is fast, skiddy and precise. He can make the ball move both ways, and he has an action that renders his bowling difficult to decipher. He has established himself as a nightmare for batsmen. The fact that he has just climbed to number one in the ICC’s Test bowler ranking is incidental. There’s a debate already whether he is the all-time great in fast bowling.
Don’t go by the numbers he might reach as a bowler in his career, go by the fear and discomfort he causes in the batters facing him, says Australian great Glenn Maxwell, admitting Bumrah was one of the toughest bowlers he had faced. “Bumrah is going to go down as potentially the best fast bowler of all time,” he said on The Grade Cricketer podcast. “He’s just got such a unique action and unique ability. He can get it to move, rush you, beat you on the inside or outside edge. He’s got a quick sniff and a good slower ball…He seems like a complete package.”
He is not alone in his praise for the Indian pacer. Former England skipper Michael Atherton is full of appreciation too. “Thank goodness, I did not face him with a new ball,” he said, speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket podcast. “He’s like a nightmare, isn’t he? He stutters away off about 10 yards and then unleashes these thunderbolts, usually bang on a sixpence, and he steals a yard because he releases it in front of himself more so than anybody else…,” he added.
Naseer Hussain, another cricketing great from England, says “he would have been sweating if he had to face Bumrah”. “I would have been afraid to face him. Shall I go forward, or shall I stand in the crease? That would have been my thought if I had to face him. He has a slower ball, yorker, and bouncer in his bowling arsenal,” he added. He was speaking to Sky Sports.
Steve Smith, Australian batsman, says Bumrah is a wonderful bowler “regardless of when I face him, whether it’s brand new, slightly older, or even the old ball… He’s a great bowler, arguably the best fast bowler over three formats.” He was on a video uploaded by Star Sports’s X handle.
In a Star Sports video, fast bowling legend Wasim Akram said at Perth, Bumrah’s spell was “a masterclass in understanding conditions and exploiting weaknesses.” He is, Akram said, was the best bowler in the world in all formats. “The control, the swing, the pace and using the crease…He was a brilliant bowler to watch. He picked up the batter’s weakness very quickly.”
Well, we know a legend is in the making. Like Maxwell says he might not reach the numbers achieved by James Anderson or Craig McGrath, but he will certainly go down as the one who made batsmen tremble most.
(By arrangements with Perspective Bytes)
