Jasprit Bumrah is the best fast bowler in the world, claims Shane Bond

Jasprit Bumrah first emerged as a good limited-overs bowler in international cricket. But, he has been able to make a smooth transition to Test cricket as well and has been a top-notch performer for India in the longer version thus far. His records speak for themselves as the lanky pacer has 68 Test wickets at an average of 20.34, 104 ODI wickets in 64 games and 59 wickets in 49 T20Is with an economy rate of 6.67, which is exceptional.

Former Kiwi fast bowler and Mumbai Indians' bowling coach Shane Bond reckons that Jasprit Bumrah is the 'best fast bowler' in the world and has the 'desire' to dominate batsmen.

“He has a desire to continue to be the best bowler in the world. I think he is. I think he is the best fast bowler. He is a gun,” Bond told Sydney Morning Herald, reported Hindustan Times.

Bond, who was a tearaway fast bowler himself during his heydays, stated that Bumrah's 'braced front leg' and 'supple wrist' help him perform to the best of his abilities alongside his pace and he has done well despite his unorthodox action.

“He hadn’t played yet and people say: ‘Will he be any good?’ There was a lot of talk about his action and that he will get injured and this sort of stuff. He is certainly unorthodox in the way his actions looks. He has a short delivery stride but he has got a strong, braced front leg, he has a supple wrist and, obviously, bowls fast and can move the ball around and is very, very skilled,” Bond said.

Bumrah exudes a lot of self-belief which is rather evident as he often bowls in the most pressure situations of the game and yet he still succeeds. Bond added that Bumrah has a lot of belief in himself and has got a great acceleration in his bowling that allows him to bowl so fast.

“He has also got that very strong belief in himself. Sometimes you meet players and work with players that don’t have that. With him, it’s definitely not like that. He has an air of confidence about his own game. He doesn’t run in fast. He sort of trots in and then the last few steps he really accelerates,” he explained.

"He, obviously, has those straight arms which are a bit different. But for a guy that is not that big and doesn’t run in too fast, he has got good acceleration and he is genuinely quick. I think that sometimes that can shock you as a batter. But the other thing is he has the ability to shift the ball both ways.”