High praise for Jasprit Bumrah from West Indies greats

Having made his Test debut only in January 2018, Bumrah has already made a solid impression in the longer format. In the 11 Tests he has played so far, Bumrah has picked up 55 wickets at 20.63. He was instrumental in India winning their maiden series in Australia in 2018-19 and also holds the distinction of being the first bowler from Asia to take five-fors in South Africa, England, Australia and West Indies.

Historically, West Indies have been one of the powerhouses of fast bowling. They produced some of the best pace attacks during the 1970s, 80s and 90s and both Ambrose and Roberts feel Bumrah would have made the cut in those teams.

"At times, he rekindles memories of our prime," Ambrose said in an interview with The Indian Express. "The pace, aggression, the hostility, the craft. The way he outclasses the batsmen, the way he out-thinks them. He could have been one of us, he's so complete a bowler that he could have played in any era."

Roberts is of the opinion that, in addition to his skill, Bumrah's unusual action would've made him a valuable addition to the West Indies teams. "It's the strangest action that I have seen on a cricket field," he mused. "I need to study that for a longer time to understand the mechanics of his action. But if he were born here back in our days, we would have had him. A freak was the only element missing in our bowling line-up. In fact, Bumrah is the only variety of bowler we had never produced."

The unusual action aside, Roberts feels Bumrah is 'classical' and also lauded the bowler for his 'game sense', which he reckons is Bumrah's greatest asset. "Look at everything else he does, he's classical. He moves two balls into the batsmen, and the other one goes away. Then two away from him, and then one into him. This is how we did, this is how fast bowlers have operated over the years.

"But the best one knows how, where and when to bowl. And Bumrah seems to have this awareness, which usually takes a lot of time to develop, a lot of experience. But how old is he? How many Tests has he played? He's a quick learner, isn't he?

"To me, it has been the most striking feature of him. Some call it maturity. I call it game sense. There seems to be clarity in his thinking, and that automatically shows in his bowling. Some bowlers, very skillful ones, don't develop it even 10 years after they had played the game. That's the biggest thing for a fast bowler, to learn how to use your head."

Ambrose likened Bumrah's skill to that of Courtney Walsh, who was Ambrose's new-ball partner during the 90s. "He's good at varying his lengths, depending on the surfaces and batsmen," Ambrose said. "I saw that in the World Cup, how he adjusted his lengths according to the conditions and batsmen. That makes life difficult for batsmen.

"[In this regard], he reminds me a bit of Courtney [Walsh] a bit. He was wonderful in sizing up the length and bowling accordingly."