Better than McGrath, Marshall? Gilchrist showers highest praise on ‘all-time great' Jasprit Bumrah

Cricket has had many heroes in its almost 150-year-old history, but has anyone been as good as Jasprit Bumrah? Former Australia keeper and three-time World Cup winner Adam Gilchrist doesn’t think so. Considering the ageless greats in Wasim Akram, Malcolm Marshall and even Glenn McGrath’s numbers and impact on the game, they are all probably second to Bumrah, who Gilchrist calls perhaps the greatest of all time, let alone from India.

Bumrah is a generational talent. Not that the game hasn’t seen more lethal pacers or probably more consistent and prolific wicket-takers than him, but how quickly he changes the game’s equation separates him from the rest.

Bumrah was nursing a back injury he sustained during the final BGT Test Down early this year (in Sydney) and missed out on all action since. Even though he failed to regain full fitness in the lead-up to IPL 2025, missing a few matches earlier, his impact since his return is there for everyone to see. 
Having played seven games on the trot since returning, Bumrah has picked 11 wickets at 17.73, including a four-wicket haul.

Speaking highly of the Indian quick, who spearheads the Mumbai Indians’ bowling attack, the team that now sits at the top of the points table with 14 points from 11 contested matches, Gilchrist said Bumrah is the Sir Donald Bradman of the bowlers and that everyone is lucky watching the greatness unfold in front of their eyes.

"He's maybe the best bowler, fast bowler of all time,” Gilchrist said on Cricbuzz.

“When you start stacking up the statistics and the varying conditions that he has to go out and execute those skills in, I guess you look at Sir Donald Bradman's numbers compared to his peers, and he's just so far ahead, so I think Bumrah is sort of in that category across all the different variations that you get in conditions and pitches that you've got to bowl on. He's significantly further ahead than the peers around him, so that tells you we are truly watching greatness,” he continued. 

Meanwhile, against the Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur, Bumrah picked up two wickets, both coming off successive balls in his first over. He first removed RR captain Riyan Parag, caught off a bouncer, before sending the dangerous Shimron Hetmyer on a first-ball duck. 

Cameraman: Where did it go?
SKY: Right here! 😉

🎥 Surya Kumar Yadav’s sharp take left everyone guessing 😮

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Though he missed out on his hat-trick against RR, Bumrah’s double-wicket-over floored the hosts, who lost the match by an embarrassing 100 runs, getting knocked out of the tournament with that.