Shane Bond commands the Australian bowling unit, calling them the best bowling attack

Former New Zealand pacer and Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bond has rated the Australian bowling attack as the best one in the tournament amongst the list of other teams’ bowlers. The devastating Australian bowling unit as told by him consists of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson.

Australia has not had the best of starts to the tournament after their first match against rivals New Zealand was washed out after they were struggling to keep pace with the required run rate, set by the Kiwi side. Australia’s second game too was quite similar to the first one, with rain playing the spoilsport for the country. In the second encounter against Bangladesh, Australia had bowled well in the first innings to dismiss the opposition to a score of 183, which was quite easy to chase on the pitch.

The Australian bowling unit plus John Hastings and Moises Henriques have picked up 14 wickets thus far in the tournament, while Adam Zampa and Travis Head picking up the other wickets.

In an event on social media, organised by the International Cricket Council, the former Kiwi pacer said on Thursday, “As much as it pains me to say, Australia have the best set of fast bowlers in the current tournament. They have genuine quicks and a left-armer who bowls some toe-crushing swinging yorkers. Hazlewood and Starc (are) probably the best opening combination in the world. If I have to pick one team with the most devastating and quickest bowling attack, it will be Australia.”

Dale Steyn: The Best

The right-arm pacer also added that Australia’s Hazlewood and Starc are two of world’s top bowlers at the moment, with them in red-hot form, but reserved his best tag to South Africa’s right-arm quick Dale Steyn.

“The best fast bowler of this generation is Dale Steyn. I know he is probably coming towards the end of his career. His record is on par with the great bowlers from the past. Having faced him, he was pretty frightening. Post Steyn, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are outstanding bowlers and doing a great job for Australia. But, if I have to pick one across all eras, Dale Steyn of the present era is a sensational bowler.” said the Mumbai Indians bowling coach.

How about batsmen, Shane Bond?

Further, the questions pertained to the bowlers’ past where he was asked who was the toughest batsman that he bowled to and his favourite batsman of his generation.

The bowler replied “Sachin Tendulkar had all the shots, Adam Gilchrist just tried to smash me and AB, he had so much time, and regardless of how fast you bowled, you felt like you are in slow motion. Three great players but all different challenges.”

The former Kiwi Quick ended the conversation by mentioning that Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya were his three favourite players from Team India, despite the likes of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli on the team while choosing India, England, South Africa and his nation, New Zealand, as the four semi-finalists.