Ravi Shastri compares Jasprit Bumrah’s control with Wasim, Waqar and Warne
Former India cricketer and head coach Ravi Shastri recently compared Jasprit Bumrah’s control with the ball with legendary bowlers such as Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shane Warne.
Notably, Bumrah left the cricketing fraternity awestruck with his sensational performance during India’s victorious campaign in the T20 World Cup 2024.
The speedster finished as the second-highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 15 wickets to his name from eight innings at an average of 8.46 and an economy of 4.17. Speaking about his marvelous performance in the World Cup, Shastri said that the fast bowler that tremendous control on the ball as he made it dance to his tunes.
“He just showed the world what it takes and you know, it’s not often in your career when you have a ball in your hand and you say, do this and the ball does that,” Shastri said on ICC review.
Further speaking ahead, Shastri compared Bumrah’s control with the legendary bowlers such as Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shane Warne.
“Very few have done it, I thought Wasim [Akram] and Waqar [Younis] had it in their prime when they played white-ball cricket. Shane Warne had it where he could literally tell the ball, go there, pitch there, hit leg stump. People who are on top of the game have that ability. I think Bumrah had that in this World Cup,” he added.
Bumrah registered lowest economy by a bowler in T20 World Cup
Bumrah became just the second Indian to win the coveted Player of the Tournament award in T20 World Cup after Virat Kohli who won it twice in back-to-back editions of 2014 and 2016.
The Ahmedabad-born cricketer registered the lowest economy by a bowler in a single edition of T20 World Cup with minimum five matches played. Bumrah’s best bowling performance of the tournament came against Afghanistan as he picked 3/7 in four overs.
The speedster started the tournament with a Player of the Match performance against Ireland as he picked 2/6 in 3 overs. He later registered figures of 3/14 in four overs against Pakistan dismissing Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed.
Courtesy of his performance, India defended their lowest T20I score ever of 119 and he was deservedly adjudged Player of the Match. In the final, he came on to bowl at a crucial juncture in the game with South Africa requiring 30 runs off as many deliveries. Bumrah along with other Indian seamers turned the game on its head giving away just six runs in his last two overs and dismissed Marco Jansen for 2 (4). He earlier dismissed Reeza Hendricks and finished with figures of 2/18.