Jasprit Bumrah Has Changed People’s Perception on Bowlers with Unorthodox Actions – Kapil Dev
Jan 9, 2019 at 3:53 PM
India’s first ever World Cup winning skipper Kapil Dev heaped praises on Jasprit Bumrah who was instrumental in securing a 2-1 series victory for India in the ODI’s against New Zealand.
When Bumrah first burst on to the scene against Australia in 2016, Kapil was rather sceptical about his longevity in the game due to his awkward action, but after rising to the top of ICC T20I Rankings, he has proved Kapil wrong.
Kapil stated that Bumrah is a ‘fabulous’ bowler and he has completely changed people’s perception about bowlers with uncanny and unorthodox actions.
“He (Bumrah) is fabulous. When I saw Bumrah for the first time, I thought how would he play with such an awkward action. But this player has changed our thought process,” Kapil said.
“And today we feel players with awkward action will play for their country for long,” the World Cup-winning skipper further added. A fitness freak during his playing days, Kapil was full praise of Kohli for turning the current Indian team into one of the fittest units in world cricket. Kohli has been immensely successful in his brief captaincy career and has already made many records as a skipper.
“Every captain has his thought process. This captain (Virat Kohli) has brought up an idea of fitness in the team, and I think we should respect his decision. You may be very talented, but if you can’t take catches and save extra runs for the team, it is of no use. A minimum level of athleticism is required. Yo-Yo test is not something which a player can’t clear,’ Kapil said.
“I was also a fitness freak, and it will be unfair if I don’t stand by it. I feel fitness to zaruri hai (fitness is important). The message that goes to youngsters is that you have to maintain a certain level of fitness. I support Virat in that,” he opined.
Kapil also backed the decision of the team management to experiment with Hardik Pandya’s batting order, as he feels the flexibility will help him develop as an all-rounder.
“The team management knows better. We can have views sitting outside, but they know better. We all want Hardik Pandya to do better. Surely, the team management is thinking something good about him,” Kapil said.
Speaking of the recent changes of rules, Kapil said,
“The changes in the rules are always introduced for the betterment of the game. There should be changes, but rules should be modified as well. Only time will tell the impact of the new rules.”