Virat Kohli: Jasprit Bumrah is the best bowler in world cricket now

Skipper Virat Kohli rated Jasprit Bumrah as the best fast bowler in the world and someone even he would have been scared to face on a bouncy Perth wicket Courtesy Bumrahs match haul of 9 for 86 India beat Australia by 137 runs in the third Test to take an unassailable 21 lead in the fourmatch seriesJasprit obviously is the best bowler in the world as per me He is a match winner without doubt even if he has only been playing Test cricket for 12 months Kohli was lavish in his praise for the Gujarat bowler who has taken 48 wickets in his memorable season in Test cricket The skipper then paid a rare compliment which possibly is the one that the pacer would treasure for the rest of his lifeI mean if there was a pitch like Perth I wouldnt want to face Jasprit Bumrah to be honest because if he gets on a roll he can really crank it up The way he bowls is so much more different to anyone and I think he realizes that more than the batsmen Thats why he is so confident about his skills the skipper said Kohli said that it was Bumrahs amazing fitness levels and work ethic along with skill set that prompted him and coach Ravi Shastri to seriously consider him for the Test series in South AfricaTalk about Bumrahs transformation from a whiteball bowler to a matchwinner in redball cricket Kohli saidI think the fact that he was showing amazing levels of energy and fitness in whiteball cricket and hence he was so good because he was not giving runs with the new ball He was getting wickets he would come back in the death overs and not bowl one loose delivery He was training like he wanted to play Test cricket He was that obsessed about his fitness levels and his work ethics So we discussed before South Africa that if we put him as a surprise package he could be lethal if he gets his lines and lengths right Kohli explained as to what prompted them to riposte their faith in BumrahThe Indian captain feels that it is Bumrahs mindset of trying to perform without fretting over conditions is what makes him a match winner The mindset he Bumrah has is what separates him from anyone else in the world right now He looks at the pitch and he doesnt think its a hard toil on these wickets He thinks how can I take make a breakthrough for the team and your mindset separates you from the rest the skipper saidWhat has specially caught the skippers imagination is Bumrahs bullishness when it comes to aiming for the jugular He is as strong headed as I have seen anyone in the past and thats the key to his success and thats what I have seen in the past 12 months The way he has matured and the areas he has bowled so quickly in his Test career I think its a scary sign for the batsmen around the world Kohli had a word of caution for batsmen around the worldThe skipper revealed that the bowling strategy is primarily set by the bowlers themselves and as a skipper he only communicates a Plan B if necessary To be honest in bowlers meeting I usually just sit and listen It is very important to understand what the bowlers are thinking And then in that process you think of plan B and you communicate that to the bowlers Thats how we operateBut the fact that the bowlers are all the time dictating those meetings is how you win Test matches away from home At the end of the day they are running in with the ball so they need to be confident with their fields where they are pitching the pace of the wicket how they can bowl dot balls and how they can get wickets The pace trio of Ishant Sharma Bumrah and Mohammed Shami have together taken 134 wickets in away Tests in a single calender year which is more than West Indies trio of Michael Holding Joel Garner and Malcolm MarshallThat fact that they have taken total ownership of their skill and taken responsibility for the team is what has set them apart this calendar year Results are there for everyone to see It is not just talk you know they have put the numbers on the board It is a collective effort he said about the bowling unit It is the team that comes first which also evident in Bumrahs interview and how the wickets were evenly distributed between the quartet that also included Ravindra JadejaEven Bumrahs team interview post game was all about how could I contribute to the team That fact that he didnt get any wickets in Perth and the way he bowled there he didnt lose heart and he knew wickets are going to come at some stageAnd if you see the other bowlers they are not trying to outdo someone else If Bumrah is taking wickets they are containing runs If someone is picking wickets Bumrah comes in and does his job So does Jadeja So does Ashwin It is a team effort at the end of the day When it comes together nicely when it gets you results it feels wonderful because you play cricket to win and get results the proud skipper saidCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed 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