IPL 2020: Lasith Malinga’s Shoes Can Be Filled By Jasprit Bumrah
Sep 18, 2020 at 7:05 PM
Australian speedster Brett Lee, who feels Jasprit Bumrah can do justice by replacing Sri Lanka veteran Lasith Malinga in the squad for the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting Saturday.
Lasith Malinga wanted to be with his family back home in Sri Lanka and thus opted out for this year’s IPL. According to Brett Lee, Jasprit Bumrah is good with both old and the new ball and thus can ball at the death overs.
Lasith Malinga and his yorkers consistently:
Jasprit Bumrah has picked up 19 wickets from 16 matches and overall picked up 82 wickets from 77 matches averaging 26.59.
“I have always been a Bumrah fan ever since he burst into the scenes some years ago. He has got a different bowling action, he pushes the ball in and can swing the ball both ways,” Brett Lee said.
“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. He can bowl at 140kmph and zoom the ball in at the batsman’s feet. He is bowling yorkers consistently and there are very less bowlers like that, so he can fill those shoes,” he added.
Lasith Malinga though has experience as he is leading wicket-taker in IPL history with 170 wickets from 122 matches averaging 19.8. He has picked up four wickets as many as six times and five-wicket haul once.
Brett Lee Reckons CSK Have A Good Spin Attack And Hence Are Title Contenders
The former Australia pacer Brett Lee further said that MS Dhoni-led side has a good chance to win the title considering they have a good spin attack in Piyush Chawla, Ravindra Jadeja and Mitchell Santner which can come in handy across the three venues in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.
“I have picked them to win and I think CSK have a good chance because of their spin attack,” Lee stated.
“With (Mitchell) Santner, (Ravindra) Jadeja needs to step up and be the number one spinner and CSK have got great variety and none of the spinners are same, so they are at an advantage for the conditions in the UAE as the tournament progresses,” he said.
Mumbai Indians will begin their title defence in the tournament opener against Chennai Super Kings at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.