Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is one of the finest pacers in modern-day cricket. His offbeat action, scintillating speed, utmost accuracy, and exceptional ability to deliver inch-perfect yorkers make him an extraordinary bowler.
Recently, during the Oval Test against England, Bumrah showed his class and turned the game on its head by delivering a breathtaking spell helping India bounce back and eventually register a memorable victory.
Even in the shortest format, which is considered batters friendly, the Ahmedabad-lad dominates and, more often than not, exhibits his top-class bowling. In the world’s toughest T20 league – the Indian Premier League (IPL) – Bumrah has played a massive role in Mumbai Indians‘ success and consistency of winning matches and IPL titles.
But according to former India opener Gautam Gambhir, only one batsman who can take on someone like Bumrah is stylish cricketer AB de Villiers. In a conversation with the Star Sports network, Gambhir said he has not seen anyone going after Bumrah the way De Villiers has in the cash-rich league. The former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain termed ABD as a ‘freak’ for being so consistent against Bumrah.
“He’s (Virat) got people like AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell, which is a huge cushion to have. Even if it’s not Maxwell, AB is a massive cushion because there is only one person who can take on someone like Jasprit Bumrah, and it was AB de Villiers. I have not seen anyone else who has done that consistently against Bumrah, but AB is a freak,” said Gambhir.
Gambhir also highlighted that De Villiers and RCB captain Virat Kohli bear the utmost pressure to do well for a title triumph. The cricketer-turned-politician said the pressure keeps increasing year after year as RCB hasn’t yet won an IPL title.
“But yes, obviously, from Virat’s standard, they would want to go out and dominate the opposition, especially in the IPL. There’s international cricket where you’ve got 5 or 6 top international bowlers, you don’t have that in the IPL. You probably get 2 or 3 international bowlers, and then you’ve got domestic bowlers as well, whom you could dominate. So, probably there’s a lot of pressure on Virat and AB as well, which could be one of the reasons and year after year if you don’t win that title, the pressure keeps on increasing as well,” Gambhir added.
