'He is great character': Former speedster Shoaib Akhtar praises Indian paceman Jasprit Bumrah
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Pakistan's former paceman Shoaib Akhtar talked about Bumrah and what makes him special.
Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been outstanding in all formats of cricket in recent years and he now leads Virat and Co.'s bowling unit. Bumrah is playing a vital role in the on-going Test against Australia.
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Pakistan's former paceman Shoaib Akhtar talked about Bumrah and what makes him special. According to Pak pacer, Bumrah uses tactics of what Wasim Akram, Akhtar and Waqar Younis used to do.
“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 said on YouTube channel “Sports Today”.
Akhtar used the example of how the two Ws (his fellow paceman) and he used to read the wind speeds during their prime. “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,” he said.
“We knew mechanics and aero dynamics 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.”
“In Bumrah’s world, in those five seconds, he only visualises the batsman and thinks about his art of taking wickets,” Akhtar said.
“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.”
“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. When he comes over the wicket, he uses the crease well. He also comes close to the stumps, if need be goes wider, he plays with variations, so the length will increase or decrease as per need but it won’t be outside the corridor,” Akhtar pointed out.
“He can bowl those away swingers to left-handers which will swing back in the air as the batsman will commit to an incoming delivery. Then after pitching, it will become and away going delivery. He is that accurate fast bowler that if you get him out of sleep, he will pitch the bowler there only. He knows art of taking wickets.”
(with PTI inputs)