London: England batsman Jonny Bairstow lavished praises Tuesday on Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah. Jonny Bairstow said the India pacer possesses ‘amazing skills’ for all three formats. Bumrah roared back to form with a nine-wicket haul in the drawn first Test against England.
“Well, I can’t tell you all the discussions (about Bumrah) in our team. We know that Bumrah has got amazing skills, doesn’t he?” Bairstow said in a con-call arranged by broadcaster Sony ahead of the second Test beginning August 12.
Bumrah remained wicket-less in the World Test championship final against New Zealand which India lost. However, he made a strong comeback in the first Test troubling the English batsmen.
“With his action, he (Bumrah) varies on the crease as to where his delivery points are. We all know he is slightly different in his action with his run up and then just his action in general,” said Bairstow. “He has played so far 20 (21) Tests. But he has developed rapidly as a bowler. His ability to adapt to different conditions and change his action is highly remarkable,” Bairstow added.
“We also got to give him (Bumrah) credit, he is a world class bowler, isn’t it? We have seen that in the IPL, we have seen that in white-ball cricket for India and also in red-ball cricket,” the Englishman further stated.
According to the 31-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman, who has played 75 Tests, his approach against Indian pacers would depend on the pitches. “It depends on the pitch, if it is sunny or cloudy, I think we saw in that first Test conditions changed with overheads and when the floodlights came on, when it was sunny, they changed again. It is difficult to say this is my approach, I can’t see a change in too much from the last game. I have not played a lot of red ball cricket recently due to the scheduling and everything like that, if I continue the process and every-thing I did in this first Test, then that is the kind of approach I want to go with,” informed Bairstow.
The England batsman maintained that adaptability was the key in Test cricket.
““It is quite an open-ended question. The strengths of the Indian bowling attack, whether or not you play in England, or in India, you look at a different type of ball,” Bairstow pointed out.
“When playing in India compared to England, you have different types of pitches, that we saw in Ahmedabad and Chennai, for instance. So they are naturally different and need different skill-sets. So adaptability is the key when it comes to Test cricket in general in conditions and being adaptable is more important,” Bairstow added.
Bairstow also said that he expects a ‘fascinating battle’ throughout the series between seasoned pacer James Anderson and India skipper Virat Kohli.