New Zealand vs India 2020: Tim Southee Hails Jasprit Bumrah, Calls Him 'World-Class Bowler'

New Zealand pacer Tim Southee, who starred for his team in the ongoing Test match versus India on Saturday, has lavished praise on Jasprit Bumrah by calling him a ‘World-Class Bowler’.

Southee took four wickets in the first Test between India and New Zealand on Basin Reserve, and thus the visitors could only score 165 runs in their first innings.

Combined by the windy conditions in Wellington and superb bowling performance from Southee and debutant Kyle Jamieson, the hosts restricted Virat Kohli’s team to a paltry total. On day two though, the Indian bowlers tried to exert some control as they helped India make a comeback in the match.

By the time the umpires called stumps on day two, half of the New Zealand batsmen were sent back, for a score of 216.

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Ishant Sharma took three wickets for India and the veteran along with Bumrah, were praised by Southee for their efforts.

Tim Southee lavishes praise on Indian bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma:

Speaking to the media post stumps on Saturday, the New Zealand speedster lauded the Indian bowling attack for helping their side stage a comeback in the match.

He said, “Bumrah has been a world-class bowler. Obviously coming back from injury but he is a quality player. And great performance are never far away when you are a quality player. Hopefully, we can keep him quiet for the rest of the tour but you can’t keep good players like Bumrah down for too long. He is working really hard behind the scenes to get wickets but sometimes you can bowl really well but still not get the wickets.”

Southee further added, “Ishant has done it for a long period of time and has been a great bowler in all conditions around the world. I guess it comes back to experience. You don’t have the ideal preparation still you can get.”

India will hope to get a couple of early breakthrough on Sunday, and will definitely have to improve their batting performance if they want to win the Test series.

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Meanwhile, after this, the second match will be held from February 29 at Christchurch.