New Delhi, India

New Zealand Test captain Tim Southee lauded India pacer Jasprit Bumrah during the just-held CEAT Cricket Rating Award ceremony on Wednesday (Aug 21) in Mumbai. On the sidelines of the event, Southee lavished huge praise on Bumrah for making a successful international return after a long layoff, due to back surgery, and termed him 'tremendous' across formats.

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Bumrah was out of cricketing action in late 2022 due to a recurrent back issue. He, thus, missed a plethora of series and returned before last year's home ODI World Cup, where he ended with 20 wickets (fourth-most). He has been in roaring form since then. The speedster claimed 19 scalps in the India versus England home Tests early this year and played a key role in the Rohit Sharma-led side's T20 WC title-winning run, in the West Indies and the USA, in June. Bumrah returned with the Player-of-the-Tournament award in the T20 WC, accounting for 15 scalps at an economy rate of 4.17.

'We are just seeing a great version of Jasprit Bumrah'

On the sidelines of the award ceremony, Southee said, "To be able to firstly bounce back from the major injury and come back, he's even better than what he was beforehand. Throw in on top of that, having to juggle multiple formats, can be difficult at times as well. He seems to have been able to do that with ease as well. He's probably more experienced and understands his game a bit more. He probably had that time where he was injured to come back and be recharged, refreshed."

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The New Zealander, who won the Men's T20I Bowler of the Year on Wednesday evening, added, "We are just seeing a great version (of Bumrah) across all three formats. He's brilliant across all three at the moment. I don't think there's anyone better than him, he is tremendous across all three (formats)."

Bumrah has been out of cricketing action since India's glorious win in the T20 WC final, beating South Africa by 7 runs at the Kensington Oval, Barbados on June 29. He wasn't part of India's white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, which officially saw Gautam Gambhir succeed Rahul Dravid as the head coach.

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India is gearing up for their hectic home season, where they host Bangladesh and New Zealand later this year.