Jasprit Bumrah is a baby bowler in front of me - Abdul Razzaq

Former Pakistan cricketer Abdul Razzaq was one of the best all-rounders- especially in white-ball cricket- during his playing days. During his prime, the all-rounder served as the bedrock of the Pakistan sides of the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s courtesy his precocious skills as a bowler as well as a batsman. He last played for Pakistan in 2013 before being unceremoniously dropped from the set-up. Since then, Razzaq consistently rakes up headlines thanks to his controversial remarks.

During the World Cup, Raazaq had claimed that it was only Mohammed Shami (because he is Muslim, according to him) who was trying to help Pakistan by performing against England- a game that Pakistan needed India to win in order to qualify for the semis.

And, now the 40-year-old is again in the news for his controversial remarks on Jasprit Bumrah. According to Abdul Razzaq, he has faced great bowlers like Glenn McGrath in his prime and if he were to face Bumrah today, he wouldn’t have any problem in countering him and also termed India’s best with the ball as the ‘baby bowler’.

“I have played against great bowlers like Glenn McGrath and Wasim Akram, so Bumrah is a baby bowler in front of me and I could have easily dominated and attacked him,” Razzaq said in an interview to Cricket Pakistan.

Abdul Razzaq explains the reason behind Bumrah’s success

Abdul Razzaq also went on to explain the reason behind Bumrah’s success. According to the Pakistani, Bumrah is doing well because of his awkward action and the fact that he hits the seam well. “Bumrah is doing very well and has improved a lot. He has an awkward action and hits the seam perfectly, which is why he is effective” Razzaq said.

He also went on to say Pakistan were lucky to become the No.1 in T20Is and termed losses of India and Australia the reason for the same. “We were struggling to qualify for the World Cup, our Test ranking has gone down and we are lucky to be number one in Twenty20 Internationals.

“You can’t say we are No 1 because we are really good. Teams like India, England and Australia lost their matches and that helped us in securing the No 1 spot. We desperately need to improve our ranking in other formats and not just focus on player’s individual performances and averages,” Razzaq further added.