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‘Better than Marshall, Hadlee and McGrath’: Two big former England bowlers insist Jasprit Bumrah is the best ever
Both are spellbound after the Indian pacer's extraordinary bowling against England in the T20 World Cup semifinal this past Thursday.
The legend of Jasprit Bumrah is certainly growing with many former cricketers calling him the greatest ever. These compliments are particularly important when they come from the rival camp, whose team he had menacingly bowled against to orchestrate their exit from the 2026 T20 World Cup. This past Thursday, Bumrah's bowling was the decisive factor in India's narrow 7-run win in the semifinal against England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Ever since, Bumrah has been the toast of the town.
His performance has now drawn comments from former England pacers Stuart Broad and Steven Finn. On a podcast, both couldn't help admiring Bumrah effusively. Bumrah just conceded 14 runs in his last two overs against the likes of Jacob Bethell, the centurion of that match, and Sam Curran to totally tilt the contest in India's favour. They looked helpless against the mighty Bumrah, Player of the Tournament from the 2024 T20 World Cup.
"Everyone else is mortal. There's great bowlers, there's good bowlers, but then there's Jasprit Bumrah who sits above all of them at the moment, and I include people like [Pat] Cummins, [Mitchell] Starc. I think he is just on another planet to any other bowler in the world at the moment," Finn said.
Which prompted Broad to say: "He could arguably, you could put a really strong argument that he's the best quick bowler ever."
Finn then said something that is going to warm the hearts of Indian fans particularly. “Well, I wrote an article last summer saying that, for the BBC, like gave my reasons, statistics, everything. Um, and I had a lot of angry 50 and 60-year-olds telling me that Malcolm Marshall was miles better.”
Broad couldn't agree more!
Broad, one of two fast bowlers in the history of Test cricket to have taken 600 wickets or more, explicitly supported that argument in Bumrah's favour.
"Yeah, Malcolm Marshall, [Richard] Hadlee, or, you know, for me, [Curtly] Ambrose, all the [Glenn] McGrath, all these guys. It's difficult because we didn't see Malcolm Marshall in a T20 World Cup semifinal where the ball was flying to all parts and I think I would lean on your article and it's [Bumrah's bowling] certainly the best I've ever seen live, that is for sure," he said.
India now play New Zealand in the final showdown of the event at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.
