Ahead of India’s highly anticipated T20 World Cup final against the New Zealand national cricket team in Ahmedabad, Jasprit Bumrah has received glowing praise from one of fast bowling’s greatest names, James Anderson. The former England pacer, who became the first fast bowler in history to reach 600 Test wickets, hailed Bumrah’s extraordinary skill set and described his bowling as something truly unique.India head into the summit clash riding high on momentum, and Bumrah has been a key contributor during the knockout stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. In the semi-final against the England cricket team at the Wankhede Stadium, the Indian speedster produced a crucial spell at the death. With the match turning into a high-scoring thriller, Bumrah conceded only 14 runs in his final two overs. That tight finish proved decisive as India posted 253 and held on to secure a narrow seven-run victory.Also See: India vs New Zealand Live Score T20 World Cup 2026
Before that, Bumrah had also played a decisive role in India’s must-win clash against the West Indies cricket team at the Eden Gardens. In a crucial over, he dismissed both Shimron Hetmyer and Roston Chase, preventing the Caribbean side from posting an even bigger total and keeping India firmly in the contest.
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Speaking on a BBC podcast, Anderson admitted that Bumrah’s ability is so exceptional that other bowlers may struggle to replicate what he does.“The thing about Bumrah is, I look at him and think, I don’t think you can learn anything from him. Like, he’s an absolute freak. There’s not one bowler in the world in any format, men or women who can bowl six yorkers out of six and absolutely nail it every time. Even one of the yorkers, he bowled [vs England] in his last over was a slow ball. So he’s nailed five fast yorkers and one slowball yorker, like you can’t hit them anywhere,” Anderson praised Bumrah effusively.Anderson also pointed out that England’s batters handled Bumrah as well as they possibly could, choosing to play him cautiously rather than risk going after him.The veteran also felt that players like Jacob Bethell and Sam Curran made the right call by simply trying to survive Bumrah’s overs rather than target him.“England did really well to get six [balls] off the hole, like they squeezed the ball out. They actually played it pretty well because they thought we know that we can’t get boundaries off it or it’s going to be really hard to get boundaries off him.“So we’ll just take our chances against the other two at the other end. And they saw at the end Shivam Dube bowl in the last over went for 22 with Jofra Archer smacking him. I know the game was gone then, but he was trying to bowl a yorker and was missing by a decent amount. So it’s just a ridiculous skill. There’s no one or certainly in T20 cricket, there’s no one better than him,” Anderson explained.With praise of this magnitude coming from a fast-bowling legend like Anderson, Bumrah will head into the final brimming with even more belief as India look to lift the T20 World Cup trophy.
