Former Pakistan pacer, Shoaib Akhtar has termed the Indian fast bowler, Jasprit Bumrah as the “smartest fast bowler” in contemporary cricket who has learned the art of deceiving rival batsmen in the air, which was the secret of success for Pakistani greats.  Akhtar is enamored by Bumrah’s skill-sets and his ability to outplay the batsman in a mere “five seconds” from an ungainly run-up which isn’t exactly a critic’s delight.

During a recent chat on Sports Today, Shoaib Akhtar said, “He (Bumrah) is probably India’s first fast bowler, who checks the wind speed and wind direction rather than how much grass has been left on the track. This thing used to be the art of Pakistanis, we used to know how you could play with the wind. This is my assumption that Bumrah knows these sort of things which I hardly think other fast bowlers know these sort of things.”

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For Akhtar, post-Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Aamir, Bumrah is the “smartest operator” in terms of cricketing intelligence. With his seven-step run-up, Jasprit Bumrah terrorizes the batsman in a matter of five seconds. Akhtar loves the manner in which the premier Indian pacer has proved people wrong. He feels that Bumrah’s greatest asset is his ability to change the length of the ball in a small corridor and deceive the batsman first in the air and then off the pitch.

Elaborating on the same, Shoaib said, “He sets up subtle traps. The 2×2 length corridor where he bowls, if you ask him to pitch 60 balls at same place, he can do that day in and day out. When he comes over the wicket, he uses the crease well. He also comes close to the stumps, if need be goes wider, he plays with variations, so the length will increase or decrease as per need but it won”t be outside the corridor.”

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He further added, “He can bowl those away swinger to left-handers which will swing back in the air as the batsman will commit to an incoming delivery. Then after pitching, it will become an away-going delivery. He is that accurate fast bowler that if you get him out of sleep, he will pitch the bowler there only. He knows the art of taking wickets.”