Follow UsJasprit Bumrah has been in excellent form for India in the last two marquee events. In the 2023 World Cup, he picked up 20 wickets and was one of the standout seamers in the entire competition.
In the recently concluded T20 World Cup, he finished with 15 scalps and had arguably the greatest T20WC campaign for any bowler ever. Bumrah, in the T20WC, delivered for his side every time he was called upon to bowl, right from the game against Pakistan, where he got the crucial wicket of Mohammad Rizwan to turn the game in India's favour, to the final against South Africa, where he bowled a top-class spell at the death.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who has watched him from close quarters, says Bumrah reminds him of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis at their peak.
"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 in the ICC Review, according to PTI.
"I think the India-Pakistan [match] because India were made to fight there and realise what the right combination should be going forward in the tournament. That and then of course the [T20 World Cup] final, those final five overs."
Bumrah was the Player of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup 2024 for his outstanding performance, and Shastri feels that the fast bowler's name should be taken alongside some of the greats in the game for his sheer ability to turn the game on its head at any point in time.
"Very few have done it [change the flow of the game]. I thought Wasim and Waqar 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," Shastri said.
"People who are on top of the game have that ability. I think Bumrah had that in this World Cup," he added.
Bumrah has been rested for the ongoing tour of Sri Lanka. India will hope to have him back for the home Test series against Bangladesh in September-October this year.
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