‘There comes one in 20 years who becomes Bumrah…’, domestic player Priyank Panchal praised him

New Delhi: Jasprit Bumrah is considered one of the best bowlers in all formats. He is currently the world’s number-1 Test bowler. But before earning a name at the international level, Bumrah made a name for himself by playing for Gujarat. Former Gujarat player Priyank Panchal says that Bumrah always had the will to represent India. 35-year-old Panchal has recently announced his retirement from all formats of cricket.

In the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy season, Priyank Panchal scored the highest 1310 runs in 10 matches, while Bumrah took 24 wickets in 7 matches, including 6 wickets for 29 runs against Jharkhand in the semi-finals. In the final, Gujarat won the title by defeating Mumbai and Bumrah played an important role in this victory.

The former Gujarat batsman said in the podcast that Bumrah has always been competitive and everyone knew that if he was given a chance for India, he would definitely succeed. Panchal believes that Bumrah’s unique bowling technique made him stand out and the position he is in today is due to his hard work and experiences outside the field.

Priyank Panchal said, ‘I think he had that passion and desire to represent the country at the highest level and even at that time. He was very competitive. And you can imagine that if you get a chance with that competitiveness at the next level, you will definitely succeed. So he is successful because he has worked hard. ‘

Panchal had a 17-year career in domestic cricket. He said about Bumrah, ‘He has faced many challenges outside cricket. He was the kind of bowler we all wanted to represent the country. His bowling technique is completely different. You get to see such bowlers very rarely – maybe one every 20 years. All the credit goes to him because he has worked hard, learned from experiences and is still learning.’

Panchal further said that Bumrah is equally competitive in the nets and keeps troubling the batsmen during practice. Panchal said, ‘Bumrah is very competitive. If I play a cover drive, the next ball is either a bouncer or a yorker. Even in the nets, when we used to play 40 to 50 balls, he used to bowl about 6 to 8 balls to each batsman. At least two of those 6 to 8 balls were bouncers.’

Priyank Panchal was very close to making his Test debut in 2021. Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the Test series of India’s tour of South Africa due to a left hamstring injury. In his place, Gujarat opener Priyank was included in the squad, who was performing well for India-A. He was also scoring runs in the domestic circuit, but did not get a chance to debut. Also, this batsman did not get a chance to play in the IPL during his career.