Former India captain Kapil Dev observed that India pacer spearhead Jasprit Bumrah could be prone to injuries because of his bowling action, wherein he uses his arm more than the body, The Hindu reported.
Bumrah, after finishing with a rich haul of wickets during India’s West Indies tour, missed the home Tests against South Africa and Bangladesh after suffering a lower back stress injury.
“See what happened to [Jasprit] Bumrah, his action attracts injuries,” Dev said. “He uses his arm more than body, so that can be a problem. A bowler like Bhuvneshwar [Kumar] will last longer because he uses his body.”
India’s 1983 World Cup-winning captain shed light on his successors and singled out Javagal Srinath and left-armer Zaheer Khan for praise.
“Javagal Srinath was one of the best bowlers we had,” he said. “I would say Zaheer Khan was outstanding too, with a very simple action. Zaheer came closest to becoming another [former New Zealand pacer] Richard Hadlee. His [Zaheer’s] action was very uncomplicated. Srinath had genuine pace.”
He added, “But, he [Srinath] looked to take wickets with the short ball. In Australia you get wickets when you pitch the ball up. Unfortunately Indian bowlers tend to bowl short in Australia because they get carried away after seeing the bounce. In the process they forget line and length.”
The 60-year-old felt that bowlers should be given a free run to set the field and cited examples from his playing days. He said: “I like [Ravichandran] Ashwin. He sets his own field. He is setting the trap. Ravindra Jadeja just comes and bowls. Jadeja is a fine bowler but the captain has to think for him. Ashwin and Harbhajan [Singh] set their own fields. That was the difference between Rajinder Goel and [Bishen Singh] Bedi. Goel bowled what the captain told him to. Bedi bowled what he himself wanted to.”
Read the complete interview with Kapil Dev here.
