‘Hit Him Back Over His Head’: Ricky Ponting Shares Cheeky Strategy To Counter Indian Pacer Jasprit Bumrah
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting shared a tactic for batters to employ for facing Jasprit Bumrah while regarding the Indian pacer as 'clearly the best' in the world right now.
Ricky Ponting, the former Australian captain and one of the legends of cricket, provided batters the mantra to tackle Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah, hailed by many as world’s best fast bowler currently, led India to a famous 295-run victory over Australia in the 1st IND vs AUS Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) in Perth. Bumrah, who captained the team in Rohit Sharma’s absence, bagged eight wickets in the match.
On the ICC Review, Ricky Ponting humorously responded to how he would face Jasprit Bumrah, saying he'd charge down the wicket and hit him over his head. He clarified it was a joke but emphasized the importance of being proactive and putting pressure on the bowler.
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"I'd charge him every ball, I'd run down the wicket, I'd hit him back over his head. That’s very much a joke, but I’d try to be proactive and put pressure back on the bowler. I'd be reacting to the ball, but I'd be trying to score. Like I said, the reason that he's so good is because he doesn't let you score. The flip side of the best bowlers not letting you score is that the best batsmen don't allow bowlers to bowl that way. That's the way I would approach it as well," Ponting said.
As India entered the contest on the back of a 0-3 clean-sweep at home by New Zealand, Bumrah led India from the front. Despite India getting bowled out for just 150 in the first innings, Bumrah remained optimistic and staged a remarkable bowling performance to help the visitors bowl Australia out for just 104 runs in their first innings. Bumrah claimed the bowling figures of 30-5 in 18 overs in the first innings and then backed it up with 3-42 in 12 overs in the second innings.
“It was so important for the captain to stand up. I think he showed everyone why he's clearly the best fast bowler in the world in all formats of the game. What he did there, not only in the first innings but for that entire game – his pace, his consistency, his ability to move the ball, his ability to continually challenge the stumps and hit the stumps, [it] was the difference between him and everyone else that bowled in that game,” Ponting said further.
Bumrah Is Clearly The Best: Ricky Ponting
Ponting went further and named Bumrah as the best fast bowler in the world currently, across all three formats of the game.
“I can put my hand up and ask people to sit back and watch and say that in T20 cricket, one-day cricket and Test match cricket, he's clearly the best right now. It's not all about wickets. It's about performing at a high level for a long period of time. We saw the other day when he gets the right conditions, just how good he can be.”
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