West Indies Bowling Legend Names India's Young Paceman A 'Generational Talent'

Windies great Ian Bishop admitted that the pace bowling foundation laid by the likes of Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Sreesanth is built on by current skipper Virat Kohli, who believes in the attack

West Indies Bowling Legend Names India's Young Paceman As 'Generational Talent' / Photo: AFP/ Getty Images

New Delhi: Former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop lauded legendary India all-rounder and World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev for laying the foundation of India's "another level" fast bowling unit. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Bishop admitted that the pace bowling foundation laid by the likes of Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Sreesanth is built on by current skipper Virat Kohli, who believes in the attack. The cricketer-turned-commentator named team India's lethal fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah as a 'generational talent'.

"Let's remember that this group of bowlers did not emanate right now. The foundation was laid -- if you go back to Kapil (Dev) and down the line, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth," the 52-year-old said.

"Now it's been built on with a captain who likes fast bowlers, who believes in them. But also the fact that you've found a generational talent in Jasprit Bumrah. Generational because he plays all formats of the game very well. And (Mohammad) Shami has taken his game to another level. Ishant (Sharma) has also gone up another level," he added.

India pacers took 33 of the 40 wickets that fell during India's 2-0 whitewash of the West Indies in their own backyard.

"I couldn't have predicted that India's fast bowlers would come to the Caribbean, for example, and do to us what we did to them so many decades ago! So credit to Bharat Arun, the bowling coach, and the administrators and captains. I couldn't see this much (improvement), but I thought there was a great deal of promise in having guys who could bowl close to, or over, 90mph," he said.

Bishop, however, refused to compare the current Indian fast bowling attack to that of the fearsome West Indians of the past.

"Well, they have been performing that well that the comparisons are going to come. I would want to stay away from it, because I don't know how you measure it," Bishop said.

"When people talk about (Michael) Holding and (Joel) Garner and (Malcolm) Marshall and (Colin) Croft and (Andy) Roberts -- who bowled together for so many years -- how do you compare with that?