Ricky Ponting reveals chat with Steve Smith on facing Jasprit Bumrah during BGT 2024-25

Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting revealed that Steve Smith told him what it is like to face India’s gun fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah. Smith said one has to be on top of his game while facing Bumrah. The Australian talisman revealed that it could take a few deliveries to get used to Bumrah’s action.

Bumrah was brilliant for India in the Border-Gavaskar series as he picked 32 wickets at an average of 13.06 and ergo he was awarded Player of the Series. The ace pacer was able to breathe down the neck of the Australian bowlers throughout the series as he was right on the money.

Speaking on 7Cricket, “I had a chance to talk to Aussies on what makes it so difficult. I’ve been seeing him for a long time, I captained him in IPL when he first came into the scene as a 17-year-old. I talked to Steve Smith, who has a good method of working fast bowlers out. He said that he finds Bumrah’s visual cues a bit hard to pick up than the most, and that it can take take you four, five, or six balls. Sometimes, you could be out by then.”

“If you didn’t get things right by that stage when you’re facing Bumrah on a challenging surface, your game could be over pretty quickly,” he added.

Ponting added Bumrah made Australian batters look silly at times in the five-match series as he was lethal in almost all his spells.

Ponting said on ICC Review, “No doubt, it’s probably the best series of fast bowling I’ve ever seen. Yes, they had good conditions, the fast bowlers, for most of this series. But when you watched him (Bumrah) bowl compared to anyone else in the series, he made batting look so much harder. There’s a lot of quality batting in that Australian top-order as well but he made all of them at different times look silly.”

It was a shame that Bumrah could not bowl in the second innings of the SCG Test after India gave a target of 162 runs.