Jasprit Bumrah remains the
Former Indian spinner R Ashwin believes that batting greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma are more cherished by Indian cricket fans than Jasprit Bumrah.
The best pacer in the current Indian squad, Jasprit Bumrah has already established himself as one of the greatest bowlers in the world across all formats, the greatest Indian pacer of all time, and one of the greatest players in history.
“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 in a video posted 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,” he added.
Ashwin specifically commended Bumrah's performance, pointing to the way he plagued senior England batsman Joe Root in the first innings of the Headingley Test as an example. Bumrah is presently the only bowler with 200 or more Test wickets with an average under 20.
“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 on the backfoot, would have tapped it to third man. But not to Bumrah.
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.
In the opening Test match against England in Leeds, the 31-year-old claimed his 14th Test five-for, returning figures of 5/83 to give India a slim six-run lead. But in the second innings, Bumrah failed to claim any wickets.
The team management hopes to keep Bumrah healthy for the third Test at Lord's, but he is allegedly expected to miss the second Test match against England at Edgbaston.