Former New Zealand pacer and the bowling coach of the Mumbai Indians Shane Bond has backed Indian sensation Jasprit Bumrah to hit peak form in the pink-ball Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval.
Jasprit Bumrah will be playing his maiden pink-ball Test and according to Trent Boult, the fast bowler can do a significant amount of damage if he gets the pink cherry during the twilight phase.
This will also be the first time that Bumrah will lock horns with Australian superstar and the No.1 ranked Test batsman in the world, Steve Smith. Smith wasn’t present during the 2018-19 rubber where Jasprit Bumrah proved to be a real handful and the duel between two of the leading cricketers of the modern-era could well go on to be the highlight of the four-match series.
”Booms [Bumrah] has been out here before and been very successful but he’s still interested in different ways to do things. That’s one of his greatest strengths,” Shane Bond told AAP.
”If he has the ball at the right time of night and it’s reasonably new then he can banana it both ways at 145k plus and do all sorts of damage,” he added.
‘He takes a great deal of pride in his performance’ Shane Bond on Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah has had an indifferent start to his Australian summer. On placid tracks during the ODI series, the champion fast bowler struggled, managing just four wickets in three matches. However, Bumrah has shown signs of improvement since the second ODI. He claimed the crucial scalp of Glenn Maxwell in the final game to pave way for a consolation win for India besides troubling the Australia A batsmen with movement and pace during the pink-ball warm-up match.
Bond said that Bumrah would be annoyed that the results did not go his way during the ODI series, and he will gunning to rectify it in the upcoming Test rubber.
”He takes a great deal of pride in his performance and I know he’ll be annoyed he hasn’t quite got the results so far that he’s wanted. The wickets were pretty flat in the ODI series to be fair,” Shane Bond said.
“I’m sure the tour is going to get better for Booms … he’ll be a real handful and is the sort of bowler who can very quickly change a game if he gets it right.” he added.
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