Michael Atherton on how to nullify Jasprit Bumrah: ‘Glad that he wasn’t in my era. He looks a nightmare to face’ | Cricket News

Former England captain Michael Atherton heaped praise on Jasprit Bumrah and said he is glad that the Indian pacer was not playing in his era.
Jasprit Bumrah was the standout performer for India in the recently-concluded Border Gavaskar Trophy, taking 22 wickets at an average of 14.22.
“Well, just glad that he wasn’t in my era,” Atherton replied to a question on Sky Cricket podcast with Nasser Hussain.
“He looks a nightmare to face. I always feel that the bowlers have got slightly unusual actions are the hardest.
India’s Jasprit Bumrah celebrates the wicket of Australia’s Mitchell Marsh during play on the day four of the fourth cricket test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)
“You know, some of the quickest bowlers that I faced, bowlers like Alan Donald and Brett Lee, had beautiful actions and you could kind of, although they were unbelievably quick, you kind of got a clear sight of the ball and, you know, you could almost regulate your own trigger movements and your rhythm.
“I think with Bumrah, that would be very difficult. You know, most batters these days have trigger movements, you know, those kind of pre-movements before the ball is bowled.
“But how do you, your timing of your movement to Bumrah seems to me to be very awkward because he has that stuttering, stammering run up and then all of a sudden there’s a thunderbolt comes down and as we know, he releases the ball a bit closer to the batter with that snap of the wr and hyperextension of the elbow. So he looks a very difficult bowler to face,” he added.

Nasser Hussain also explained how in their playing days they never discussed how to tackle a pacer and in their team meetings.
“It’s funny, wasn’t it? In all our meetings, we would have meetings about the opposition batters,” said Hussain.
“Where are you going to bowl to Ricky Ponting? Where are you going to bowl to Brian Lara? We’d never really have meetings about how you’re going to nullify Courtney Walsh or whatever. It was like left to the batters to individually work out a plan,” he added.

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