Jasprit Bumrah in action. (FILE photo)Jasprit Bumrah is arguably one of the best fast bowlers India has produced and is among the top bowlers of all time. Former Indian off-spinner R Ashwin would say that Bumrah should be respected in the same brackets as Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli. The 38-year-old would also go on to say he is Bumrah’s number one fan.
“I have praised him a lot. But the word you said will not come out of my mouth. But the point is, he is fabulous. That’s all I want to leave. He was born in this world. All these things become a soap opera. I am not one of those drama artists. I don’t want to market anyone. But he is a fabulous cricketer,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“I really wish that we go that route (In giving Bumrah the same respect as Tendulkar and Kohli). I am still saying that as much as we do for Rohit Sharma, or Virat Kohli, or Sachin Tendulkar, we don’t do the same for Jassi. Definitely more than what a bowler usually has. He’s got a lot of respect. He’s got a lot of fans. A lot of people love him. I am his number one fan. Maybe his wife could be number one, competing for it. I am his number one fan,” Ashwin further said.
Ashwin would analyze how Bumrah exploits Root’s technique. “He is on a different pedestal. He is in a different world. And the problem is, it’s not about the uniqueness of his action. It is about the quality of execution. How does he execute? The way he troubled Joe Root in the first innings, proper. Joe Root was not able to pick the length. The ball was a little far. He could have played the rest of the bowlers in the backfoot, would have tapped it to third man. But not to Bumrah,” Ashwin said.
“He came forward. Because he was worried about the ball nipping back in. And he didn’t pick the length. He chased it a little. It went in the slip. He is just a fabulous bowler. The ball of Zak Crawley in the first innings, how many can he bowl that? He is almost past the vertical. From there, he dropped it in the middle stump. He has taken that out. That needs great awareness, great wrist position, quality execution, and an unbelievable amount of work to try and keep his body in that shape to do this,” Ashwin added.
“He is on a different plane altogether. And I would be very proud to say I played with Jassi. I batted against Jassi. I was in a team with Jassi. And I have seen some fabulous victories. And I have played together with him. He is one of the legends. He is right up there. If not, better than some of the batters in our country.”
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