New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS) Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar highlighted Jasprit Bumrah’s immense value to the Indian team and called him a man with zero weaknesses.
In the ongoing Boxing Day Test, Bumrah snapped a four-wicket haul on day 4 and managed to cross the 200 Test wicket milestone during his blitz while also extending his lead as the leading wicket-taker in the series with 29 scalps.
“There’s just no weakness this man has. It’s almost like he is this genie that Indian cricket have brought as a gift and you make a wish and you get it. And it’s always Bumrah providing it, be it T20 cricket World Cup or 50 over World Cup, or it’s a match like this, crucial game on a page where a lot of the bowlers struggle to get anything out of it.
“He was getting lateral movement. He’s cleaned up Alex Carey, as if, he’s a number 10, 11 batter. He just had two balls in that spell left. You knew he wasn’t going to bowl more than two balls, and he nailed Alex Carey there as well,” Manjarekar said on Star Sports.
The 31-year-old pacer boasts a unique record of being the only bowler in Test history with a minimum of 200 dismissals and an average less than 20. Close to him in the tally are former West Indies greats, Malcolm Marshall (20.94), Joel Garner (20.97) and Curtly Ambrose (20.99).
“And when you look at the average, I mean, this is unbelievable. We talk about Curtly Ambrose. I had the privilege of playing against Malcolm Marshall. Now those are great names, and an average of under 20 after 200 wickets is just mind-boggling stuff from Jasprit Bumrah,” he added.
Former Australian cricketer and coach Justin Langer also shared his views on Bumrah’s heroics and called him a “right-handed version of Wasim Akram” and also said that the Indian star’s bowling makes the Australian dressing room sit on the edge of their seats.
Bumrah has been on an inspired run with the ball in the longest format, having claimed 70 wickets from 13 Tests this calendar year, which is his best annual tally.
“I’ve spoken about Jasprit being like a right-handed version of Wasim Akram, who I thought was the greatest bowler I was ever fortunate to play against. And now, when you look at those numbers, Jasprit Bumrah has a better average than all the legends of the game. We’ve seen that throughout this series.
“Every time he comes to Australia, he proves he is a superstar. Every time he bowls, the Australian dressing room sits on the edge of their seats, just praying that he finally has an off day!” said Langer.
–IANS
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