Jasprit Bumrah has been Virat Kohli's trump card across all the three formats and the bowler has been especially menacing with the red ball. By bagging a 5-wicket haul in Antigua, he became the first bowler from Asia to notch up a fifer in England, South Africa, Australia and West Indies.
After his menacing spell in Antigua, Bumrah revealed to Rohit Sharma how he sliced through West Indies with his out-swinger a trait, which has developed in the recent past. He gave the first glimpse of his new weapon in England and breathed fire in Antigua, which even prompted Andy Roberts and Curtly Ambrose sit up and applaud.
'The chap is very good'
"Perfect length. You can't get better than his. The chap is very good. He is hitting the right areas straightaway. Not too many do that," Roberts told Indian Express.
After getting rid of Kraigg Brathwaite, Bumrah shattered the stumps of John Campbell with a menacing swinging ball and this prompted Roberts to equate him to Michael Holding.
"That's a brute. You can't do anything against. Just bad luck. Was the kind of ball Michael (Holding) used to bowl back in our days. And later Malcolm Marshall. This is a serious ball and can get the best batsmen out," Roberts further added.
There was another legendary bowler in the audience as Bumrah unleashed hell and well, Curtly Ambrose, the more expressive of the two, was up and about excited about with what he was seeing.
The former fast-bowler even equated Bumrah with the crop of bowlers West Indies had back in the glory days and when they were dismantling batsmen across all conditions.
"At times, he rekindles memories of our prime. The pace, aggression, the hostility, the craft. The way he outclasses the batsmen, the way he out-thinks them. He could have been one of us, he's so complete a bowler that he could have played in any era," Ambrose said.
For the free-spirited people in West Indies, Bumrah is special, for they remind them of their own crop of champions who had batsmen shivering in their sight.
"It's the pace that catches my eyes first. I wouldn't say pace is the biggest asset of a fast bowler but I would say it's the most valuable one," Roberts added.
