Over the past few years, the world has witnessed an overhaul of Team India's pace contingent. A resurgent Indian bowling unit, led by Jasprit Bumrah, is expected to deliver an impressive performance in the upcoming series against Australia, scheduled to begin with the first ODI at Sydney on November 27th.
A potent fast-bowling attack has been a major reason behind the national side's overhaul. At present, India's pace artillery is equipped with the likes of Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Deepak Chahar, and Shardul Thakur. India also has newly-added Mohammad Siraj and T Nataraj to bolster their squad.
Ahead of the much-awaited series, former Australia speedster Jason Gillespie has heaped praise on India's fast-bowling attack, especially Bumrah. According to Gillespie, Bumrah will go down as India's greatest in all three formats. Since breaking into the national side, Bumrah, with his pinpoint accuracy and unorthodox action, has established himself as a vital cog of Team India's wheel.
"They are a fine bunch now. (Jasprit) Bumrah is going to be a superstar once his career finishes. He will go down as one of India’s greatest in all three forms of the game. There’s no doubt about that,” Gillespie told Sportstar.
“(Mohammed) Shami has been excellent. Ishant Sharma has shown what an adaptable player he is. He has had a few ups and downs but has shown real resilience. He is always trying to better himself,” he further said.
While representing India in 14 Tests, 64 ODIs and 50 T20Is, Bumrah has scalped over 200 international wickets. He recently also finished as the second-highest wicket-taker of IPL 2020. Gillespie further compared India's old bowling force with the new one, saying that the latter has more depth to it.
“What a wonderful bowler (Javagal) Srinath was. Probably knocked me over on a few occasions (smiles)... Zaheer Khan, too, brought something different to the Indian seam attack.
“[It’s] difficult to compare eras absolutely, but the biggest difference between the pace attacks (then and now) has been the depth. I am not sure if in the past they’ve (India) had quite as much depth as they have now,” Gillespie concluded.
