Jasprit Bumrah is one Indian player who generates awe and fear in almost similar capacity. Bumrah, currently the world No. 1 bowler in Tests, led India from the front against Australia in the first match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. He returned with a match-haul of eight wickets as India notched a memorable win. “It was so important for the captain to stand up,” Ricky Ponting, former Australia captain, said in the latest ICC Review. “I think he showed everyone why he’s clearly the best fast bowler in the world in all formats of the game.
“What he did there, not only in the first innings but for that entire game – his pace, his consistency, his ability to move the ball, his ability to continually challenge the stumps and hit the stumps, [it] was the difference between him and everyone else that bowled in that game.”
Ponting rated Bumrah as No. 1 when it came to India’s fast bowler. “I think he’s definitely India’s greatest fast bowler. A lot of the greats before him didn’t play all three formats as much as he has.
“I can put my hand up and ask people to sit back and watch and say that in T20 cricket, one-day cricket and Test match cricket, he’s clearly the best right now.
“It’s not all about wickets. It’s about performing at a high level for a long period of time. We saw the other day when he gets the right conditions, just how good he can be.
“If he keeps going the way that he is, then there’ll be a lot of people saying what Glenn Maxwell said I’m sure.”
In fact, Ponting placed Bumrah among the all-time greats.
“It’s the build-up of pressure,” said Ponting. “Curtly Ambrose was the same, Glenn McGrath was the same. Like any of the great fast bowlers, they make scoring difficult.
“You just don’t score off him [Bumrah]. You don’t get any runs. The best of the best make scoring difficult for batsmen, and then it makes batting uncomfortable.
“You forget about your instincts as a batsman, when you think about surviving and not scoring runs – that’s when batting becomes really hard.”
When asked about how he would have faced Bumrah, Ponting said: “I’d charge him every ball, I’d run down the wicket, I’d hit him back over his head. That’s very much a joke, but I’d try to be proactive and put pressure back on the bowler.
“I’d be reacting to the ball, but I’d be trying to score. Like I said, the reason that he’s so good is because he doesn’t let you score.
“The flip side of the best bowlers not letting you score is that the best batsmen don’t allow bowlers to bowl that way. That’s the way I would approach it as well.”
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