Former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq on Wednesday said that he would have had no trouble facing India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and insisted that the quality of pacers he was up against during his playing days was much better.
The 40-year-old remarked that the pressure would be on Bumrah in the death overs. “After having faced world class bowlers in my time, I would have had no problem against a bowler like Bumrah. Pressure would have been on him,” Razzaq told CricketPakistan in an interview.
He added, “I have played against great bowlers like Glenn Mcgrath and Wasim Akram, so Bumrah is a baby bowler in front of me and I could have easily dominated and attacked him.”
Razzaq weighed in on why the 25-year-old, who is the No 1 ranked One-day International bowler, has been so successful off late. He said: “Bumrah is doing very well and has improved a lot. He has an awkward action and hits the seam perfectly, which is why he is effective.”
Razzaq also lamented about Pakistan’s struggles as they fell further down in the pecking order following a crushing 0-2 whitewash against Australia in the Test series. The all-rounder said that Pakistan’s No 1 ranking in T20Is told only a part of the story.
He said: “We were struggling to qualify for the World Cup, our Test ranking has gone down and we are lucky to be number one in Twenty20 Internationals.
“You can’t say we are No 1 because we are really good. Teams like India, England and Australia lost their matches and that helped us in securing the No 1 spot. We desperately need to improve our ranking in other formats and not just focus on player’s individual performances and averages.”