India blessed to have Bumrah who can swing at great pace, says Mumbai Indians teammate Mitchell McClenaghan

Jasprit Bumrah is in line to feature in the third Test against England after India went down in the first two at Edgbaston and Lord’s. The team management may change the playing XI to try and bring a different result at Trent Bridge and the pacer could figure in the scheme of things.

Bumrah’s Mumbai Indians teammate and New Zealand cricketer Mitchell McClenaghan is confident the right-arm pacer will do well.

“Having spent the last four years with Bumrah, watching him in the nets and seeing the skills he possesses, it was never a question of ‘if’ Jasprit would play Test cricket but a question of ‘how many?’. Bumrah is class, pure and simple,” said the New Zealand cricketer, who is currently playing in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) for the St Lucia Stars.

The 24-year-old Bumrah had suffered a thumb injury in the first T20 against Ireland on June 27 which led him to being ruled out of the England T20s, ODIs and the first two Tests.

“I don’t think there will be any issue with his transition to the longer format and knowing Bumrah well, he’ll be doing everything he can to consistently play Tests, he absolutely loves that format. The tricky part will be making a transition from white ball to red ball quickly as there is not a lot of gap between formats and the skills are generally quite different.”

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Bumrah has played three Tests till date apart from 37 ODIs and 35 T20s.

Though Indian batsmen have failed to live up to their potential in the first two Tests, the bowlers have done well, especially in the first Test, which India eventually lost by 31 runs.

“The crop of Indian fast bowlers coming through and the balance they have in their attack is good enough for any condition. Typically, the Dukes ball swings a lot more than any other cricket ball and all of the Indian attack can move the ball in the air. It also helps that you now have guys like Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah who can move it at great pace,” added McClenaghan.

Apart from Bumrah, the 32-year-old has also played with Mumbai Indians’ teammate Hardik Pandya, who is India’s second-highest run-getter in the England series so far behind captain Virat Kohli.

But left-arm pacer McClenaghan feels Pandya hasn’t unleashed his true potential and if he does, it’ll be ‘scary’.

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“Hardik has done really well for India to date and won some crucial matches by himself with bat and ball, which is what you expect from your No.1 all-rounder. Again, after spending quite a bit of time with Hardik and watching him train, I can’t help but feel that we haven’t seen half the talent he possesses at the international stage, which is really scary for opposing teams!” said McClenaghan.

“It’s great for India to have someone who can, on his day, be a world beater with bat and ball as it gives your side a great balance and particularly in ODI cricket leading up to a World Cup, it gives the team so many options as Hardik is proficient in both skills.”