Follow UsAny opinion in any cricket usually comes with some blowback, but few would disagree if you were to make the claim that Jasprit Bumrah is the best all-format bowler in the world.
It was just over a month ago that Bumrah had an all-timer IPL season, taking 18 wickets at an economy of 6.68, and last week he was out there dominating the English batters on a flat wicket, single-handedly carrying the Indian bowling.
There are bowlers who are format specialists, but Bumrah is one individual who every batter has found it difficult to face across formats and conditions.
Heinrich Klaasen is someone who has a relatively good record against Bumrah — avg 22.5, SR 155.2 in T20s — but even he got out to him twice in IPL 2025. In a recent interview, Klaasen explained what makes Bumrah such a difficult customer to face.
“I think the angle that it [the action] creates on the crease, it's quite wide. Its almost like when Starc comes around and he reverse swings the ball away. It's quite a big angle change. Bumrah just gets that angle into the right handers,” Klaasen told Cricbuzz.
“Then he also just like, jogs in. So with the guy that bowls 140kmph... like Hazelwood has got a lovely speed in his action, or in his run up that you go like, okay, cool this is more or less the pace he'll bowl with. Bumrah's run up pace and what he bowls is not the same. So that is quite interesting.
“And then he's got a very late delivery release as well. So normally, the ball should be delivered already, but he's still got it in his wrist, so it's quite an adjustment. But like I said at the moment, you face him quite a bit, and you get used to it, which is really important. But at the end of the day, he just doesn't miss. He's got such great skill that he hardly gives you bad balls.”
As it stands, Bumrah is the number one ranked bowler in Test cricket.