'Indian Cricket Is Fortunate To Have Him': Manjrekar Praises Jasprit Bumrah's Performance In 1st Test

Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar was full of praise for star Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah after he picked up four wickets for 50 runs on Friday (September 20) to help India dismiss Bangladesh for 149 runs in their first inning of the ongoing first Test at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The 30-year-old Bumrah opened India’s bowling attack and got rid of Shadman Islam in the first over itself. After dismissing Bangladeshi opener for two runs from six balls, Bumrah accounted for the dismissals of Mushfiqur Rahim, Hasan Mahmud, and Taskin Ahmed as well.

He finished as India’s highest wicket-taker in the first innings. While speaking on the ESPNCricinfo show, Manjrekar, who has now donned the hat of an expert, praised Bumrah’s ability to adapt to any condition and said that the right-arm pacer is one of the sharpest fast bowlers.

“We all know about his variations, his thinking—one of the sharpest thinking fast bowlers. We saw a certain amount of meanness as well in the way he bowled to Taskin. But the one thing that came through today was that he is a bowler without a weakness—whatever the opposition or pitch conditions, and that’s actually the best way to judge greatness. Indian cricket is so fortunate to have him in their side,” said Manjrekar.

He also posted a tweet in praise of Bumrah after the end of the second day’s play, which read, “Is there anything more left to say about Bumrah as a champion bowler? Well I realised today that he is a bowler with just strengths, zero weakness. Guess, that’s the ultimate yardstick for greatness.”

Apart from Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, and Ravindra Jadeja also picked up two wickets each to help India dismiss Bangladesh in just 47.1 overs and take a 227-run lead.

World No. 1 Test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin, however, was unable to take any wicket in the first innings of the Test match, which is being played at his home ground. But he has already made the ongoing match a memorable one for himself by scoring a century for India on Day 1.