IPL 2020 | Jasprit Bumrah can fill the shoes of Malinga; bowl at death overs, reckons Brett Lee

09/19/2020

Brett Lee has suggested that Jasprit Bumrah will be able to fill in the shoes of Lasith Malinga, who pulled out of IPL due to personal reasons, and bowl at the death overs. He praised Bumrah for being consistent and pointed out that Bumrah and Malinga have similar traits of deadly yorkers.

Sri Lankan yorker specialist Lasith Malinga pulled out of the Indian Premier League 2020 due to personal reasons. It was a big blow to Mumbai Indians as Malinga has played an integral part in the franchise’s success in the IPL. In the aftermath of this blow, Australia’s right-arm pacer James Pattinson was named the official replacement for Malinga in the Mumbai Indians’ squad.

Despite the replacement being called, it is difficult to fill in the shoes of a veteran like Malinga, who does wonders for his team in the death overs. He bowled the last over in the final of IPL 2019 and managed to defend nine runs as MI won their 4th title. The 37-year-old is also IPL’s highest wicket-taker with 170 scalps to his credit, with the bulk of them coming during the fag end of the innings.

Former Australian speedster Brett Lee reckoned that Jasprit Bumrah will be able to take Malinga’s place as he is fantastic with the new ball as well as the old ball. He added that very few bowlers have the ability to consistently crush the toes of batsmen like Bumrah and favoured Mumbai to be in the top four this year.

“I am always Bumrah’s fan since he burst onto the scene some years ago. He has got a different bowling action, he pushes the ball in, and can swing the ball both ways. He is good with the new ball but I like him with the old ball and that’s why he can fill the shoes of Malinga and can bowl at death overs,” Lee said on Star Sports’ show Game Plan as quoted by Hindustan Times.

“He can bowl at 140kmph and zoom the ball in at the batsman’s feet. He is bowling the yorkers consistently and there are very less bowlers like that, so he can fill those shoes.”

“They have to be. Champions of last year, they have got a good squad,” he said when asked about MI’s chances of winning this year.

“Pollard is in form and we know what Rohit can do. They have Jasprit Bumrah, and some good spinners and some power hitters as well, so yes, they are in my top four.”

MI will take on the Chennai Super Kings in this season’s opener on September 19 in Abu Dhabi.