India star pacer Jasprit Bumrah holds the No. 1 position in the ICC Test bowler’s rankings and has proven his mettle in all three formats. He also won the ‘Player of the Tournament’ award at the T20 World Cup 2024.
However, Pakistan cricket team fast bowler Ihsanullah has a different opinion and claims Naseem Shah is better than Jasprit Bumrah.
In a recent podcast, Ihsanullah claimed that his teammate Naseem is a far better bowler in comparison to Bumrah. He said, as quoted by PTI,” Agar dekha jaaye toh Jasprit Bumrah se acha bowler Naseem Shah hai (If you look at it, Naseem Shah is a better bowler than Jasprit Bumrah).”
When the podcast show’s anchor challenged Ihsanullah’s opinion with Bumrah’s figures and quoted Asia Cup 2023, ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 and T20 World Cup 2024 figures, Ihsanullah added few players can go through a rough patch for a year, but Naseem is still better.
“Naseem Shah bhi aise he perform kar raha tha 2022 T20 World Cup mein. Koi baat nahi, ek saal aisa aata hai koi perform karta hai ya nahi, fir bhi Naseem Shah usse acha hai (Naseem Shah also performed well in the 2022 World Cup. Sometimes players can go through a rough patch for a year, but Naseem is still better).”
What stats say:
Looking at Bumrah’s stats, he has been phenomenal and lethal ever since his comeback to international cricket following the back surgery.
In 39 Test matches, Bumrah picked up 173 wickets, while in 89 ODI, the Indian pacer claimed 149 wickets. Bumrah took 89 wickets in 70 T20Is.
On the other side, Naseem Shah played 19 Tests and picked up 56 wickets. In 19 ODIs, Shah took 32 wickets, while in 28 T20Is, Shah claimed 24 wickets.
Last week Naseem was left out of Pakistan’s Test squad for the last two matches of the ongoing three-match series against England.
Meanwhile, Ihsanullah has played only 1 ODI where he failed to take even one wicket, while in his 4 T20Is for Pakistan, he could only take 6 wickets.
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