There is no doubt about the greatness of Jasprit Bumrah as a cricketer. But is his name taken with the same respect as a Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli? Ravichandran Ashwin believes Bumrah is yet to get the respect he deserves.

“I am saying that as much as we do for Rohit Sharma, or Virat Kohli, or Sachin Tendulkar, we don’t do the same for Jassi (Bumrah)... Definitely more than what a bowler usually has. He’s got a lot of respect. He’s got a lot of fans. A lot of people love him. I am his number one fan. Maybe his wife could be number one, competing for it. I am his number one fan,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

“He is on a different plane altogether. And I would be very proud to say I played with Jassi. I batted against Jassi. I was in a team with Jassi. And I have seen some fabulous victories. I have played together with him. He is one of the legends. He is right up there... if not better than some of the batters in our country,” Ashwin, known for his straight talk, said.

Ashwin explained that though it is common practice to think that Bumrah’s unique action makes it difficult for batters to play against him, it is actually the speedster’s execution which makes all the difference.

“He is on a different pedestal. He is in a different world. And the problem is, it’s not about the uniqueness of his action. It is about the quality of execution. How does he execute? The way he troubled Joe Root in the first innings (at Headingley), proper. Joe Root was not able to pick the length. The ball was a little far. He could have played the rest of the bowlers on the backfoot, would have tapped it to third man. But not to Bumrah.

“He came forward. Because he was worried about the ball nipping back in.
And he didn’t pick the length. He chased it a little. It went in the slip.

“The ball of Zak Crawley in the first innings... He is almost past the vertical. From there, he dropped it in the middle stump. He has taken that out. That needs great awareness, great wrist position, quality execution and an unbelievable amount of work to try and keep his body in that shape to do this,” Ashwin added.