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Cricket PlayersJames Anderson stunned by Jasprit Bumrah's ability to bowl yorker after yorker: ‘There is no one better than him’
Bumrah conceded just 14 runs in his last two overs against England to change the complexion of the semifinal this past Thursday.
There can't be a bigger compliment for Jasprit Bumrah than what James Anderson has said about him. India play New Zealand in the T20 World Cup final at Ahmedabad later today and Anderson, first fast bowler to take 600 Test wickets, endorsing him should do his confidence a world of good.
Not that Bumrah needs any confidence. He has had already some wonderful games leading up to the final. In the semifinal against England at the Wankhede Stadium earlier this week, he conceded just 14 runs in his last two overs. For a high-scoring contest, that performance with the ball proved decisive as India (253) beat the English team by seven runs.
In the match before, a virtual knockout against the West Indies at the Eden Gardens, Bumrah took two wickets in an over, those of Shimron Hetmyer and Roston Chase, to ensure that the Caribbean team didn't post a really big total eventually.
Speaking on a BBC podcast, Anderson, considered one of the greatest ever to play the game, couldn't help showing his admiration for the Indian pacer.
"The thing about Bumrah is, I look at him and think, I don't think you can learn anything from him. Like, he's an absolute freak. There's not one bowler in the world in any format, men or women who can bowl six yorkers out of six and absolutely nail it every time. Even one of the yorkers, he bowled [vs England] in his last over was a slow ball. So he's nailed five fast yorkers and one slowball yorker, like you can't hit them anywhere," Anderson praised Bumrah effusively.
England batters looked helpless!
The former England pacer was of the opinion that Jacob Bethell, the centurion from the game, and Sam Curran did the right thing against Bumrah. "England did really well to get six [balls] off the hole, like they squeezed the ball out. They actually played it pretty well because they thought we know that we can't get boundaries off it or it's going to be really hard to get boundaries off him.
"So we'll just take our chances against the other two at the other end. And they saw at the end Dube bowl in the last over went for 22 with Jofra Archer smacking him. I know the game was gone then, but he was trying to bowl a yorker and was missing by a decent amount. So it's just a ridiculous skill. There's no one or certainly in T20 cricket, there's no one better than him," Anderson explained.
