Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has rated Jasprit Bumrah as the smartest bowler in world cricket today, along with Mohammad Amir.
Bumrah has led India’s pace attack in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series in the absence of the experienced Ishant Sharma and has been at his best in the first two trials even after losing his fast bowling partners Mohammed Shami and Umesh. Yadav for injuries.
Bumrah has bagged 8 wickets in the two Tests, which is only 2 behind the tally of Pat Cummins and Ravichandran Ashwin in the series so far.
“I think he’s probably the smartest fast bowler. Bumrah, Mohammad Amir, and even bigger than Wasim Akram, the guy I’ve seen bowling is Mohammad Asif. In fact, I’ve seen batters cry as they face off. to Asif. Laxman once said ‘how do I deal with this guy’, literally AB de Villiers started crying during the Asian Test Championship.
“But I think after Asif, Bumrah is the smartest fast bowler today. People doubted his physical condition in test cricket, even I was watching him closely. He has a fast gorilla, he is deceptive and cunning and a good character is this guy, “Shoaib Akhtar told Boria Majumdar on Sports Today.
Akhtar also praised Bumrah for his attitude towards the game, noting that the Indian pacemaker shows aggression through the lengths he throws, not in his body language.
“Bumrah has aggression in his length, not his body. That’s how I’m going to define Bumrah. His aggression is in the length he throws, he beats hitters with his length. His body language is not aggressive, he’s the kindest. guy I have come across, but when he comes to bowling, in those 5 seconds he shows his aggressiveness in his length.
“It is during those 5 seconds when he throws bowls that he tells the batter ‘you are not going to be better than me.’ What I find very nice about him is that he thinks about his bowling alley, he’s a team man, a good fast bowler and a match winner. What I think I should do is gain some muscle mass. I said this to Hardik Pandya also during the Asian Cup. Even Ravi Shastri agreed with me on this, “Akhtar said.
The four-game series remains tied at 1-1 after India’s memorable victory at the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne earlier this week. It came after the disaster in Adelaide, where India was eliminated by its lowest test score of 36 after dominating the match for the first two days. Australia won that pink ball game by 8 wickets in 3 days.
The two teams will now travel to Sydney on January 4 for the third round to be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground starting on January 7.
Watch the full exclusive interview with Shoaib Akhtar on January 1 on Sports Today.
