Former South African skipper Shaun Pollock has showered praise on Jasprit Bumrah after the first T20I between India and the Proteas. The hosts registered a comprehensive victory of 101 runs at the Barabati Cricket Stadium, Cuttack on Tuesday.
After India posted 175 runs on the board, Bumrah returned with impressive figures of 2-17 in the three overs he bowled. The Indian gun fast bowler accounted for Dewald Brevis and Keshav Maharaj.
Furthermore, Bumrah completed 100 scalps in T20Is to become the second Indian bowler to reach the milestone. He became the first Indian and fifth overall bowler to pick 100 wickets across all three formats. Pollock highlighted that Bumrah doesn’t give any freebies to the batters and he has all the arrows in his rich quiver.
Shaun Pollock said on Cricbuzz, “He doesn’t give you free balls to hit. Arshdeep searches and goes full to try and get the ball to shape. Bumrah doesn’t have to do that because he just holds his length. He skids onto you, and with his unorthodox action, how do you prepare for that? He has that wonderful flick of the wrists. But the big thing is the consistency. He has all the options and the variations but doesn’t give you anything for free. And he’s just at you all the time.”
“The only thing you would want is more overs from him (laughs). You would want to be able to use him for five or six because you’ll use him throughout the innings. And he’s also at that stage of his career where he’s so confident with what he’s trying to do. I don’t think he needs much time in the nets. He’s just got that self-belief to back himself in all situations.”
On the other hand, Pollock said India is unlikely to change their playing XI in the second game.
“I don’t think they’ll change much at all. Their plans will be to win three games as quickly as possible and then have the depth of their side in the other two and give themselves a chance to fiddle. No one really fired, so they’ll want their batters to fire and will keep it the same after a win,” said Pollock (via the aforementioned source).
“Unless maybe the surface is conducive to an extra spinner or for Harshit Rana to play. But it’ll be just tinkering. There won’t be any major changes.”
The second T20I between India and South Africa will be played at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, Chandigarh, on Thursday.
