Former Australian captain and one of the game’s greats, Ricky Ponting praises Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah.
Ponting was talking in the latest ICC review and he hailed the Indian pacer as the greatest across all three formats of the game at the moment. Jasprit Bumrah was the ‘Player of the Match’ in the first test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 at Perth.
He was leading the Indian side and he put in a captain’s performance with the ball. Bumrah picked up 8 wickets in the game and never allowed the Aussie batters to settle in.
Ponting said, “It was so important for the captain to stand up. I think he showed everyone why he’s clearly the best fast bowler in the world in all formats of the game”.
Further praising the Indian speedster, Ponting said, “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”.
Ricky Ponting on Jasprit Bumrah vs Glenn McGrath debate
Talking about the comparisons between Bumrah and former Australian pacer Glenn McGrath, Ponting said that Bumrah is similar to McGrath and Sir Curtly Ambrose.
He said, “It’s the build-up of pressure. Curtly Ambrose was the same, Glenn McGrath was the same. Like any of the great fast bowlers, they make scoring difficult”.
Ponting further added, “You just don’t score off him. 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.”
He concluded with, “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.
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”.
