NEW DELHI: Former Australia cricketer Greg Chappell, who formerly coached India, thinks Jasprit Bumrah combines the finest qualities of the great pacers Andy Roberts and Dennis Lillee.
Bumrah is currently the only player preventing Australia from winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he said.
“I have always said that Dennis Lillee and Andy Roberts were the most complete fast bowlers that I faced. How does Bumrah, with his unorthodox action and masterful control, measure against these two and the other titans of modern fast bowling?
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“Bumrah, though less overtly combative, channels Lillee’s ability to unsettle batsmen. His deadly yorkers and disconcerting bounce – especially with his unorthodox release point and trajectory – echo Lillee’s capacity to dictate terms. Bumrah’s quiet intensity and precision make him a nightmare, much like Lillee’s unrelenting aggression.
“Bumrah shares Roberts’ cerebral approach. Both bowlers use subtle variations to outfox batsmen, relying on strategy rather than brute force. Bumrah’s spell in the 2018 Boxing Day Test against Australia – culminating in 6-33 – was a modern echo of Roberts’ game-changing bursts. Bumrah mirrors this versatility,” wrote Chappell in his column for The Sydney Morning Herald on Friday.
Bumrah has been a revelation for India since making his Test debut against South Africa in Cape Town in 2018. He has taken 185 wickets in 42 games thus far.
With 12 wickets from two games, including eight in the team’s 295-run victory in Perth, Bumrah is currently the top wicket-taker in the current Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
“With 151 wickets at an average of 21.03 in just 30 Tests, his ability to excel in diverse conditions recalls Marshall‘s dominance. Bumrah’s reverse swing on abrasive surfaces and his ability to seam and swing the ball under cloudy skies have been pivotal, evoking the same uncertainty that batsmen faced against Marshall. As Ian Botham famously remarked of Marshall, ‘He gave you no respite’. Today, batsmen echo similar sentiments about Bumrah.
“As he has had back surgery already, it is not certain he will have a long career, but if he does, his name will be mentioned in the same breath as the champions above. What sets Bumrah apart is his combination of skills: Marshall’s adaptability, Lillee’s aggression, Hadlee’s control, Roberts’ strategy, Wasim and Waqar’s reverse swing, McGrath‘s precision, Steyn’s explosiveness, and Rabada’s modern versatility. As Nasser Hussain aptly observed, ‘He’s the complete bowler’.
“While the legends of yesteryear established the foundations, Bumrah is carving his own legacy – one that promises to inspire future generations of pacemen. Fast bowling, cricket’s most compelling spectacle, thrives through these icons.
“Bumrah, with his unorthodox brilliance, stands tall among them, embodying the heavy artillery that Ian Chappell so eloquently described. Make no mistake, Bumrah stands between Australia and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy,” concluded Chappell.
