Langer calls Jasprit Bumrah a right-hand version of Wasim Akram

Former Australia head coach Justin Langer heaped rich praise on Jasprit Bumrah calling Indiarsquos fastbowling spearhead a righthanded equivalent of legendary Pakistan leftarm pacer Wasim AkramBumrah has taken 21 wickets at an average of 1090 to be the leading wickettaker of the ongoing BorderGavaskar Trophy series including a fivewicket haul in Perth and a sixfer in Brisbane He has also dismissed Australia openers Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney four times each in the series so farldquoI would hate to face him He is like Wasim Akram For me he is a righthand version of Wasim Akram and every time I am asked the question lsquoWho is the best bowler you have ever facedrsquo I say Wasim AkramrdquoldquoThey have got good pace and the great bowlers just hit the same spot every time and they have got a good bouncer so it makes them a bloody nightmare He has got the ability to swing the ball both ways his seam is literally picture perfectrdquoldquoIf you present a perfect seam and it comes perfectly out of the fingers as it does with him you get the double whammy swing in the right conditions and if it hits the rope it can go either way Thatrsquos what Akram used to do and was a nightmare to facerdquo he addedldquoI would hate to face Bumrah Hersquos a great competitor he bowls good pace and hersquos just awesome I said at the start of the series if Bumrah stays fit it is going to be a really tough summer for the Australian batters if he doesnrsquot then I think Australia will win the series easily and I still maintain thatrdquo said Langer to The Nightly on ThursdayLanger also expressed surprise by the sudden retirement of veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin after the third Test at Brisbane ended in a draw citing that the visitorsrsquo could turn to him for at least one of the two remaining Tests in Melbourne and SydneyAshwinrsquos last international game was the daynight Test against Australia in Adelaide where he took 153 in his 18 overs and made 29 runs with the bat as India lost by ten wicketsldquoI was surprised Ashwin retired because I thought they would use him and Ravindra Jadeja mdash go to their big guns for maybe Melbourne and definitely Sydney I think Melbourne and Sydney are as likely to suit India as the other two venuesrdquo he addedLanger signed off by believing Australia will not make any changes in terms of its batting makeup despite its toporder misfiring for the crunch Test in Melbourne starting from next ThursdayldquoI canrsquot see them making any changes now at 11 in the series There will be some discussions about a few players but my gut feeling is they will keep it the samerdquo said LangerThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever