Former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq is known for issuing controversial statements. Last year, he stirred the social media when he passed some remarks on Indian speedster Jasprit Bumrah.
Razzaq had labelled Bumrah as a ‘baby bowler’ while comparing the latter to some of the greatest pacers like Glenn McGrath, Wasim Akram and Curtly Ambrose.
However, now Razzaq has given a clarification on his statement and said his comments were taken out of context as he has nothing personal against Bumrah.
“I do not have anything personal against Bumrah. I was simply comparing him with the likes of Glenn McGrath, Wasim Akram, Curtly Ambrose, Shoaib Akhtar. It would have been much tougher to face them. My comments were misconstrued,” said Razzaq as quoted by Times Now.
Razzaq even hailed Bumrah as someone who is becoming a world-class bowler, before stating that during his time bowlers had much high calibre.
“He is heading towards becoming a world-class bowler. But in our times, the bowlers were of a much higher calibre. Not many can dispute that,” added the 40-year-old.
Bumrah has built his image as a top-quality bowler of modern-day cricket. His inch-perfect yorkers, unusual action, extreme pace and superb consistency has impressed many across the globe. The Ahmedabad-born paceman was the highest wicket-taker for ‘Men in Blue’ in the 2019 World Cup held in England and Wales. The right-armer finished the global showpiece event with 18 wickets in 9 matches.
In September 2019, Bumrah became the third Indian bowler to claim a hat-trick in Test cricket after Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan. The 26-year-old accomplished the feat during the second Test against West Indies at Jamaica.
Bumrah has so far appeared for Team India in 14 Tests, 64 ODIs and 50 T20Is, in which he has taken 68, 104 and 59 wickets, respectively.
