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New Delhi, February 8
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra lauded compatriot and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah for his recent performances in Test cricket, saying that the pacer is making fans fall in love with Test cricket.
ICC issued the latest Test rankings on Wednesday which saw Bumrah rise to the summit of the ranking after he registered figures of 9/91 across both innings during India’s series-levelling victory in the second Test at Vizag.
Speaking on his Youtube Channel, Chopra said, “With what he (Bumrah) is doing currently, he is making us fall in love with Test cricket. When a batter scores a hundred or a double hundred, he stays at the crease for a long time, so it just captures your imagination a little more because you have seen him bat for seven hours.”
Chopra went on to point out that in Indian conditions, pacers do not capture the imagination of fans as much as spinners as they bowl shorter spells and take lesser wickets than spinners.
“In Tests in India, we look at spinners, because they pick up six or seven wickets, and 10 or 12 wickets in a Test match and you say - 'Wow'. Fast bowlers, because they bowl short spells, do not capture your imagination as much, especially in Indian conditions,” Chopra said.
Chopra went on to point out Bumrah’s all-format dominance, reflected by 378 international wickets in 185 appearances in an age where players are not always all-format ones and even selectors do not make all the players play all the formats and look for specialists.
“He is an amazing player. You generally do not look for all-format players in modern-day cricket. The players are coming with that perspective and the selectors also are looking with that perspective.”
“However, a player who could not continuously play all cricket, went through an extremely serious injury and was out for a very long time, the way he is bowling since returning from that - a lot of bowlers come but some bowlers remain in your memory and are exceptional till the time they play,” Chopra concluded.
Bumrah is the fourth bowler from India to top the rankings after Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Bishan Bedi.
The Indian pacer leapfrogged from no. 3 spot and moved to the top of the rankings ahead of the experienced spinner.
Ashwin who has been at the top since March last year bagged three wickets in the same match and dropped to third spot.
The 30-year-old pacer became the fastest Indian pacer to pick 150-plus wickets in long-format cricket during the second day of the India-England Test match in Visakhapatnam.
Bumrah achieved the remarkable feat after delivering 6781 balls in Test cricket.
Meanwhile, Umesh Yadav stands in the second spot with 7661 balls. Mohammed Shami and Kapil Dev hold third and fourth place with 7755 and 8378 balls, respectively.
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