Jason Gillespie, former Australian pacer praised Indian seamers, especially predicting big things in the future for one impactful quick Jasprit Bumrah in particular.
India has reached Australia for the upcoming series comprising of 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is and 4 Tests which begins with the first T20I taking place on November 27th. The 4 Test match series starts on December 17, and skipper Virat Kohli will miss last 3 tests to attend the birth of a child.
Jason Gillespie: Indian Paces Are A Fine Bunch Now, And Pace Attack Is Best In A Long Time
One of the biggest factors that make the current Indian team a tough competitor and the team to beat is the fast-bowling attack that skipper Virat Kohli has nourished under him comprising several veterans and raw youngsters in the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, among many others.
In a recent interaction, former Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie was asked to compare the current India fast bowling attack to the one which India had during his playing days like Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath among others. In his reply, he praised India seamers, especially predicting big things in the future for Jasprit Bumrah.
“They all bring their different ways of doing it (bowling fast). I think the Indian pace attack now is as good as they’ve had in a long time. That’s no disrespect to the guys who came before them,” Gillespie told Sportstar.
“But they are a fine bunch now. (Jasprit) Bumrah is going to be a superstar once his career finishes. He will go down as one of India’s greatest in all three forms of the game. There’s no doubt about that,” he added.
“(Mohammed) Shami has been excellent. Ishant Sharma has shown what an adaptable player he is. He has had a few ups and downs but has shown real resilience. He is always trying to better himself,” he further said.
“India should be proud of how he has stuck to his task and found ways to reinvent himself. And then you’ve got other guys like Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Bhuvi is injured at the moment. Hopefully, he will be fit soon. Umesh Yadav has added a yard of pace, hasn’t he,” he added.
However, injuries have played a part too as currently Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are nursing injuries and have not been named in any squad for the Australian tour. Both of them suffered injuries in the recently concluded IPL 2020. Jasprit Bumrah, on the other hand, narrowly missed purple cap and became 2nd bowler among maximum wicket takers with 27 wickets after Kagiso Rabada who picked 30.
Jason Gillespie: Difficult To Compare Eras Absolutely
Jason Gillespie played from 1996 to 2006 and appeared in 71 Tests and 97 ODIs, and he faced Indian pacers like Ajit Agarkar, Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan.
Comparing the two generations of players, Gillespie said: “What a wonderful bowler (Javagal) Srinath was. Probably knocked me over on a few occasions (smiles)… Zaheer Khan, too, brought something different to the Indian seam attack.”
“[It’s] difficult to compare eras absolutely, but the biggest difference between the pace attacks (then and now) has been the depth. I am not sure if in the past they’ve (India) had quite as much depth as they have now,” he signed off.
Jason Gillespie though said it is difficult to compare eras but reckons India currently have the depth in pace attack, unlike previous years.
The former pace attack comprised of Javagal Srinath, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra and L Balaji, to name a few.