(Photo Courtesy: CricTracker)
Wasim Akram was on all praise of Jasprit Bumrah stating that the Indian pacer could go on to make a difference in the upcoming World Cup.
The man who was touted to be the best in his time to bowl the ‘toe-crushers’ is now in all praise for Jasprit Bumrah. Yes, Wasim Akram has claimed that Bumrah’s ability to bowl the yorker the ‘most effective‘ currently in world cricket.
Bumrah recently shone to limelight after his performances in the test series Down Under impressed everyone, leaving the Australian batters in a fix. “Jasprit Bumrah has the best and the most effective yorker among fast bowlers playing international cricket now,” Akram told PTI during an interaction.
Akram, who helped his side win the World Cup back in 1992 believes that Bumrah could do the same for side and also holds him to make a difference in the death overs with his stock delivery.
“Bumrah has an exceptional action, very different from other fast bowlers and yet he gets the ball to swing and also move off the deck at good pace,” Akram said. “But what makes Bumrah special is his ability to bowl yorkers on a regular basis. Also yorker is not just used for ODIs but for Test matches too as me and Waqar did in our times,” the Sultan of Swing said.
But Akram attributed most of the credit in perfecting the yorker delivery to tennis ball cricket stating that it provides the base to mastering the ability to deliver it on a consistent basis.
“If you see, whether it’s me coming from Pakistan or Bumrah coming from India, we are all products of tennis ball cricket,” said Akram, who is a mentor in the upcoming 10PL tennis ball tournament in UAE. “When you play gully cricket with buildings on both sides and the batsman being deprived of playing cross batted shots on both sides, they are forced to play straight then. And then you start pitching it up and in the process learn to bowl at the base and prevent the batsman from going down the ground. You will see a lot of yorkers in 10PL,” said Akram.
Akram being the ace of 10PL in 2018, expects the tournament to grow with passage of time.
“The organisers have kept 250,000 Dirham (USD 68,00,000) prize money for this tennis ball tournament where as back in 1992, we got USD 40,000 for winning World Cup,” Akram said.
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