BGT 2024-25: Ravi Shastri compares Jasprit Bumrah with this Aussie great, find out here!
Xtra Time Web Desk: Former India head coach Ravi Shastri delivered high praise for star India bowler Jasprit Bumrah. He said Bumrah's ability to quickly read an opposition batter's strengths and weaknesses as well as the playing conditions just like the legendary Malcolm Marshall.
While talking to Fox Cricket, he said “He’s a terrific reader of the game when it comes to batsmen. I thought when I played the best bowler I played against was Malcolm Marshall, because of his ability to suss out conditions, read batsmen’s strengths and weaknesses. I think Bumrah is in that category. He’s so quick to suss the strengths and weaknesses of a player."
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He also noted, “He’s taken close to 200 wickets and close to a hundred in India, and he’s taken those at 17. In India, you must realise the ball starts reversing, because of the rough conditions. So if he doesn’t take wickets with the new ball, he’s dangerous at the end.”
Bumrah has taken 21 wickets in three Tests at an average of 10.90. No other bowler in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has managed to claim more than 15 wickets so far after three Tests. Bumrah picking 53 wickets is already the leading wicket-taker for India in Australia in Test cricket, compressing Kapil Dev's tally of 51 in the third Test in Brisbane. The Indian fast bowler needs one more wicket to become the most successful in the country at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Tests. With 15 wickets, he is currently tied with Anil Kumble.
"Bumrah is up for the challenge, he loves bowling at the MCG. I remember his six-wicket haul when I was a coach when he just dismantled Australia," Shastri further noted.
“He’s in that kind of form, he just takes wickets for fun in Australia. It’s ridiculous. There’s no respite because he’s at the peak of his powers and what he does with the new ball makes it difficult for any batsmen. He swings it and seams it both ways, he’s absolutely relentless," he added.
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The series is now at 1-1, a lot will depend on Bumrah's spell so all eyes will be on him.
