Jasprit Bumrah
hasn't looked back since his toe-crushing yorkers, bowled with an unconventional stiff-arm action, for Mumbai Indians made him a global star. He has gone on to become the leader of India's battery of pacers, which has been talked about as among the best in the world over the last five years. But when
Babar Azam
was posed a hypothetical question on a podcast, he said he won't prefer Bumrah to bowl a decisive last over for him as captain in a T20 match.
Babar has recently been reappointed as
Pakistan
's white-ball captain, replacing Shaheen Shah Afridi in the post, after he led the side in just one T20I series.
Speaking on a podcast, Babar was given a situation as a captain on the field and asked which bowler will he trust to deliver the decisive last over in a T20 match. He was given two names.
"One over, T20 match, you have to win the match, you have two options to defend 10 runs, whom will you give the last over,
Naseem Shah
or Jasprit Bumrah?"
The 29-year-old Pakistan captain had no hesitation in making a decision, and replied, "Naseem Shah."
"Firstly, I felt so happy for Naseem, for the way he returned to cricket after injury, the way he recovered," said Babar.
"The number of skills he has, you don’t get a talent like this very often in Pakistan. There are others too, like Shaheen, he has his own class, he is experienced and Naseem is on Shaheen’s path," Azam added.
Twenty-year-old Naseem was on the injury list for more than six months, recovering from a shoulder injury he suffered at the Asia Cup last year. It also sidelined him for the ODI World Cup held in India.
India and Pakistan will next meet in the highly-anticipated group game of the T20 World Cup on June 9 in New York.
The 2024 T20 World Cup will be jointly hosted by the West Indies and USA from June 2 to 29.
English (US) ·