VVS Laxman Compares Jasprit Bumrah With Wasim Akram

It would not be wrong to say that Jasprit Bumrah has been the biggest success story of Indian cricket this year. He has been an absolute revelation in Tests ever since making his debut earlier this year during the tour of South Africa. While Bumrah’s expertise in white-ball cricket was well known, there were apprehensions over his ability to deliver with the red-ball.

However, he did not take long to end those apprehensions.  He finished the three-match series in South Africa with 14 wickets including a five-wicket haul. He did well in England too, taking the same number of wickets to pretty much make it clear that he is a force to reckon with in the Tests too. And his performance has only gone one notch higher in the ongoing series against Australia.

Bumrah has 20 wickets from three Tests in the ongoing series and has clearly been the standout bowler so far. He finished his first year in Test cricket with a staggering 48 wickets across South Africa, England and Australia. The pick of his performance in Australia was his nine-wicket haul in the third Test.

He picked up a career best 6 for 33 in the first innings and 3 in the second essay as India thrashed Australia by 137 runs to take an unassailable lead in the series. The feat also helped Bumrah become the Indian pacer with most wickets in a Test match in Australia. Bumrah also recorded five-wicket hauls in South Africa, England and Australia – becoming the first Asian pacer to do that in the same calendar year.

Impressed with his performance, former India batsman VVS Laxman compared him with none other than the legendary Wasim Akram.

“What I liked was not even once did he lose control, or did he look as if he was ineffective. That shows on how much he was worked hard on his fitness, how skilful he is, and how much control he has got with his bowling,” VVS  Laxman told ESPNCricinfo on Sunday.

“He almost reminds me of Wasim Akram. For me, Wasim Akram was the toughest bowler I have faced because of the amount of variations he had and the control he had over those variations. Bumrah has got those variations just like Wasim had,” VVS Laxman, who has scored 8781 runs in 134 Tests at an average of 45.97, explained.

India, meanwhile, will be looking to wrap up the series when they take on the hosts in the fourth and final Test. The game will start on January 3 in Sydney.