London, Nov 27: Former England captains Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain heaped praise on Jasprit Bumrah for being the chief architect of India’s famous win in the Perth Test against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Bumrah took a 5-wicket haul in the first innings and followed it up with 3 in the second one and finished as the Player Of The Match.The pacer was also proactive as the stand-in skipper for the visitors as they scripted a memorable 295-run win in Perth. Speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket podcast, Atherton hailed Bumrah as fantastic and claimed that he is happy that he didn’t have to face the Indian pacer during his career.
“I thought Jasprit Bumrah was absolutely fantastic. Those two newborn spells. There are a few bowlers when you retire, you don’t really think about. You know your time as a player. But there’s the odd bowler that you just think ‘thank goodness I did not face him with the new ball.’ I mean, how would you play him?”
He’s like a nightmare, isn’t he? He stutters away off about 10 yards and then unleashes these thunderbolts, usually bang on a sixpence, and he steals a yard because he releases it in front of himself more so than anybody else. What a nightmare to face,” said Atherton.
Hussain would say that he would have been sweating if he had to face Bumrah. The former England captain said he was surprised there wasn’t a lot of chatter about Bumrah heading into the match as the pacer’s stats have been brilliant for a long period of time.
Hussain ended by calling Bumrah the best all-format bowler in the world.
“I mean, my triggers would have been, as he’s stuttering away, I’m thinking, ‘shall I move? Shall I not move.’ And then he has that slow ball. He has the yorker and the bouncer.”
“I was thinking before the game, actually, he was doing the press conference. I was watching all the sort of focus had been on Kohli and Rohit Sharma not being there and balance of the Indian side and Steve Smith.”
“Would they get runs? These great players, I thought they don’t talk about Bumrah, and maybe it’s just being a bowler. Batters get highlighted so much more. Bumrah’s stats is up there with me. He’s popped under 20 over quite a long period of time. He’s incredible and in all formats. He’s the best all-format bowler in the world bar none,” said Hussain.
The second Test between Australia and India will start on December 6.