Jasprit Bumrah can be the best in the world: Rohit Sharma

Showering heaps of praises on his premier bowler Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit was delighted to see the performances the fast bowler put in this season. His 2/26 in the finals included the big wicket of MS Dhoni which helped Mumbai claw back in the game after putting just 129 runs on the board.

Bumrah finished the IPL with 20 wickets from 16 games bowling crucial overs at the death in every game. His ability of bowling accurate yorkers when the pressure is colossal has earned him a lot of praises from all quarters. He will now head to England to be a part of India’s pace battery which includes Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Bhuvneshwar also had a terrific season in the IPL finishing with 26 wickets from 14 games, the highest in the competition. He finished with the purple cap for the consecutive time this year.

Rohit acknowledged Bumrah’s contributions but did not want to put any pressure on the young fast bowler. “I would prefer not to say that he is the world’s best T20 bowler because, right now, he is doing a great job. I would like him to continue to do well. All those things when he sees will only add pressure on him. I don’t want to say anything,” said Rohit while addressing a press conference here in Mumbai on Monday.

Bumrah has a bag of tricks

Aged 23, Bumrah has already played 11 ODIs and 24 T20s for India picking 22 and 33 wickets respectively. He is a slippery customer who can tail the ball into the right-hander and has a smart slower ball which is well disguised.

Bumrah used all of the above tricks to defend 11 runs against Gujarat Lions in a super over where he did not let Aaron Finch and Brendon McCullum, two great T20 players, to hit him. Rohit referred to that over and said that Bumrah is sure of his capabilities.

“He knows what his capabilities are. He has shown it throughout the tournament when he came to bowl the Super Over to probably the best T20 batters in Aaron Finch and Brendon McCullum, defending 11 runs. He has got all the abilities to be No. 1 bowler in the world, for sure,” the Mumbai Indians skipper added.

Mumbai Indians bowling Coach Shane Bond too echoed the brilliance of Bumrah and was of the opinion that the 23-year old will play Test cricket soon.

“He has always been put under pressure in our team to bowl the pressure overs because he has got the skills and the temperament to do it. And I think he has done it both for Mumbai and for India,” said Bond.

“I think he will definitely play Test cricket and be a world class bowler across all formats,” he added.

Bumrah’s skills will come in very handy for Team India in their defence of the ICC Champions Trophy. If he carries on his IPL form into the tournament, Bumrah will be a tough customer to get away.