I'd charge Bumrah every ball... hit him back over his head: Ponting

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has labelled Jasprit Bumrah as “India's greatest fast bowler” and compared him with Curtly Ambrose and Glenn McGrath. Bumrah has been India’s biggest match-winner in the last few years.

The ace paceman once again proved his worth in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth. Bumrah claimed eight wickets in the game and captained India to a historic 295-run victory. He was rightly named the Player of the Match. Bumrah now has 181 wickets in 41 Tests at an insane average of 20.06.

“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 in the ICC Review.

“I think he's definitely India's greatest fast bowler. A lot of the greats before him didn't play all three formats as much as he has. 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. If he keeps going the way that he is, then there'll be a lot of people saying what Glenn Maxwell said I'm sure."

Comparing Bumrah with Ambrose and McGrath, Ponting added, "It's the build-up of pressure,” said Ponting. “Curtly Ambrose was the same, Glenn McGrath was the same. Like any of the great fast bowlers, they make scoring difficult.

“You just don't score off him (Bumrah). You don't get any runs. The best of the best make scoring difficult for batsmen, and then it makes batting uncomfortable. You forget about your instincts as a batsman, when you think about surviving and not scoring runs – that's when batting becomes really hard.”

So, how would he have tackled someone like Bumrah? "I'd charge him every ball, I'd run down the wicket, I'd hit him back over his head,” he laughed. “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."

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