Shane Bond backs Jasprit Bumrah to do a lot of damage in the Test series against Australia

Former New Zealand pacer and the bowling coach of IPL franchise Mumbai Indians Shane Bond backed the Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah to go with all guns blazing against the fierce Australian batting line-up in the four-match Border Gavaskar Trophy that started on December 17 with a day-night Test in Adelaide Oval.

Bumrah’s lethal bowling was the driving force behind India’s historic victory in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2018-19 by 2-1 on the Australian soil. The right-arm seamer was India’s wrecker-in-chief as Bumrah had bagged 21 wickets at an average of 17.00, which also included a five-wicket haul. He was the joint-highest wicket-taker with Australian spinner Nathan Lyon.

Bond, who closely worked with Bumrah in Mumbai Indians camp, feels that the pacer will present a repeat telecast of his heroics with the ball. Also, the seamer would be playing his first ever pink-ball Test. Opining on the same, the New Zealand veteran reckoned that the fast bowler can do a significant amount of damage if he’s handed a relatively new ball during the twilight.

“Booms [Bumrah] has been out here before and been very successful but he’s still interested in different ways to do things. That’s one of his greatest strengths,” Shane Bond told AAP. “If he has the ball at the right time of night and it’s reasonably new then he can banana it both ways at 145k plus and do all sorts of damage,” he added.

Jasprit Bumrah takes a great deal of pride in his performance: Shane Bond

Jasprit Bumrah didn’t have a good start to his Australian tour as he failed to find the rhythm in the ODI series and ended up with just four wickets across three matches. However, he showed signs of improvement in the third ODI and had a decent outing in the day-night warm-up game against Australia A.

Detailing his opinion on the same, Shane asserted that Jasprit Bumrah takes pride in his performance and the poor run in ODIs must have left him annoyed. Thus, the pacer would be looking to make a solid comeback in the Test series. “He takes a great deal of pride in his performance and I know he’ll be annoyed he hasn’t quite got the results so far that he’s wanted. The wickets were pretty flat in the ODI series to be fair.

“I’m sure the tour is going to get better for Booms … he’ll be a real handful and is the sort of bowler who can very quickly change a game if he gets it right.” Shane Bond concluded.