‘He’s a Freak!’ James Anderson stunned by Bumrah’s six-yorker masterclass vs ENG in Mumbai

England great James Anderson feels there’s none like Jasprit Bumrah in this world; no bowler, man or woman, can bowl six brilliant Yorkers he bowled in the 18th over against England in Mumbai. Bumrah nailed it to perfection against Sam Curran and Jacob Bethell, conceding just six runs and putting England’s back against the wall. While England were there in the run chase, needing 44 off the last 18 balls at a time when Bumrah came to bowl, his final over sealed the win for India and qualified for the T20 World Cup final.

Known for his effortless art of swinging the ball at any venue at will, Anderson was all but stunned by Bumrah’s ability to strike gold with his Yorkers every time.

"The thing about Bumrah is, I look at him and think, I don't think you can learn anything from him. Like, he's an absolute freak. There's not one bowler in the world in any format, men or women, who can bowl six Yorkers out of six and absolutely nail it every time. Even one of the Yorkers, he bowled [vs England] in his last over, was a slow ball. So, he's nailed five fast Yorkers and one slowball yorker, like you can't hit them anywhere," Anderson said of Bumrah on a BBC podcast.

Bumrah was the reason Bethell’s brilliance went in vain, as the Indian speedster conceded just 33 runs in a game that saw 499 runs being scored across both innings. While his first-ball masterclass, a slower ball that accounted for captain Harry Brook, won hearts, his last over was the final nail in the coffin, which cost England the game.

‘Curran, Bethell handled Bumrah well’

Anderson, meanwhile, lauded the batting pair for their strategy against Bumrah, which was to see him and not target him, only to help save a wicket and attack someone else. Although they succeeded against gifting him a wicket, leaving too much to score in the last two overs caught them off guard.

"England did really well to get six [balls] off the hole, like they squeezed the ball out. They actually played it pretty well because they thought we know that we can't get boundaries off it, or it's going to be really hard to get boundaries off him.

"So, we'll just take our chances against the other two at the other end. And they saw at the end Shivam Dube bowl in the last over went for 22 with Jofra Archer smacking him. I know the game was gone then, but he was trying to bowl a yorker and was missing by a decent amount. So, it's just a ridiculous skill. There's no one, or certainly in T20 cricket, there's no one better than him,"

Anderson explained.