Former England batsman Mark Butcher has hailed the bowling exploits of Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, referring to him as an ‘outlier’ in the game for the manner in which he has bowled in a batsmen-friendly format like T20 cricket.
Butcher said that the 32-year-old’s ability to identify which balls to bowl when and execute them with pinpoint accuracy and perfection was incredible. Bumrah took 14 wickets in the T20 World Cup, with his best performance coming in the final, where he claimed 4/15 in four overs against New Zealand.
“He’s an absolutely outlier in world cricket at the moment, and maybe forever. People love doing the comparison thing of great bowlers from different eras, but nearly all of those guys didn’t have to contend with scoring rates as they are meant to be in T20 cricket, and therefore, it’s impossible to say whether or not they would have been or could have been as good as he is. He is absolutely outstanding.”
“He’s an astonishing defensive bowler. His numbers over the course of his T20I career, he goes at six and a half an over in this era – in the era where everyone’s complaining that the batters are basically making the game a joke… The skill that he has to bowl the perfect yorker, to change his pace in a way that is so well disguised and so brilliantly executed in terms of the perfect length, the perfect line and whatever else, when the pressure is highest and people are coming at him, or coming at the bowling to go big, is quite remarkable,” he told Wisden.
Speaking after India’s T20 World Cup title-winning campaign, Butcher said that the team’s strength lies in the depth of contributions across the squad. He added that, contrary to teams like Pakistan, India’s big plus point was how the unit played for the team rather than focussing on personal milestones.
“In T20 cricket, one individual cannot win you tournaments. It always takes the whole team to step up in different moments. There’s quite a stark contrast there in the way that their neighbours from the north-west in Pakistan are still stuck in the idea of personal milestones and individual superstars,” he said.
The former left-hander also credited the role of head coach Gautam Gambhir in ensuring that India played with that mindset and built the team around that thought. “Gautam Gambhir, who’s had his detractors over his time in charge, has basically walked away from that mantra and has built a team,” Butcher said,
India’s next assignment will be a one-off Test and a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan in June.
