Bumrah is probably India’s first fast bowler who knows how to play with the wind : Akhtar

Shoaib Akhtar is of the opinion that Jasprit Bumrah has mastered the art of bowling fast and can check the wind speed and wind direction without worrying about the grass cover.

Jasprit Bumrah has been terrific in the series against Australia so far, with the pacer emerging as the leader of the pack in the absence of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He did justice to the expectations by making the Aussies uncomfortable in their own way and scalped four wickets in the first innings of the second Test.

Shoaib Akhtar was pretty impressed with the bowler and stated that Bumrah checks the wind speed and wind direction rather than how much grass has been left on the track, which he feels used to be the art of Pakistanis.

“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,” Akhtar said on YouTube channel “Sports Today”.

“We used to actually (do that), me, Wasim bhai and Waqar bhai, we used to note the wind speed and direction, look the wind is blowing from that corridor, okay I might get reverse from that end,” he said.

“We knew mechanics and aerodynamics of fast bowling, how much swing and at what time of the day. This is my assumption that Bumrah knows these sort of things which I hardly think other fast bowlers know these sort of things,” Akhtar added.

Bumrah’s greatness depends on his fitness: Akhtar

Bumrah suffered a stress fracture to his back just after the West Indies series in mid-2019 and when he eventually returned in December 2019, he was not the same bowler he used to be. He suffered a massive form dip which continued till the limited-overs series against Australia. And Akhtar asserted that if the pacer’s back permits, he will end up as one of the greatest bowlers of all-time.

“In Bumrah’s world, in those five seconds, he only visualises the batsman and thinks about his art of taking wickets.

“He is a great character. He will be the most unusual but great fast bowler if fitness permits. If his back remains okay, he will play for a long time.”

“He has proved people wrong time and again. The more people were critical of his ungainly action, he just told them, look boss this is what I can do with this action.”

“He sets up subtle traps. The 2×2 length corridor where he bowls, if you ask him to pitch 60 balls at the same place, he can do that day in and day out.”