Jasprit Bumrah is the smartest fast bowler around, says Shoaib Akhtar
Jasprit Bumrah is currently rated as one of the best pace bowlers in the world. He is currently ranked ninth in Tests, third in One-Day Internationals and 19th in Twenty20 Internationals. Shoaib Akhtar used to be one of the fiercest pacers in world cricket.
FollowIndian pacer Jasprit Bumrah has made a name for himself of late, owing to his prolific bowling. His unusual bowling action has drawn attention, which has undoubtedly made an impact and has made him one of the best bowlers in the world, across formats.
Meanwhile, Bumrah has found praise from former Paksitani speargun, Shoaib Akhtar. The Pakistani feels that Bumrah is the smartest bowler in the world, as he can rattle a batsman up within just five seconds of his run-up.
"He (Bumrah) is probably India's first fast bowler, who checks the wind speed and wind direction rather than how much grass has been left on the track. This thing used to be the art of Pakistanis, we used to know how you could play with the wind," Akhtar was quoted as saying to Sports Today.
"In Bumrah's world, in those five seconds, he only visualises the batsman and thinks about his art of taking wickets. He is a great character. He will be the most unusual, but great fast bowler if fitness permits. If his back remains okay, he will play for a long time," added Akhtar.
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"He has proved people wrong time and again. The more people were critical of his ungainly action, he just told them, look boss this is what I can do with this action. He sets up subtle traps. The 2x2 length corridor where he bowls, if you ask him to pitch 60 balls at same place, he can do that day in and day out," Akhtar opined again.
Speaking on how he and other fellow Pakistani bowlers used to do the same, Akhtar recalled, "We used to actually (do that), me, Wasim bhai and Waqar bhai, we used to note the wind speed and direction, look the wind is blowing from that corridor, okay I might get reverse from that end. We knew mechanics and aerodynamics of fast bowling, how much swing and at what time of the day. This is my assumption that Bumrah knows these sort of things which I hardly think other fast bowlers know these sort of things."
As for Bumrah's current performance, he has claimed 14 wickets in six matches across formats in Australia's ongoing tour. He is currently ranked ninth in Tests and third in One-Day Internationals (ODI). However, he needs to improve his performance in the shortest format, as he lurks at 19th in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I).
