Former Indian cricket team wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik was all praise for Jasprit Bumrah after the pacer took a five-wicket haul against England in the first Test encounter. It was a special performance from Bumrah who thrilled everyone with his bowling and ended up handing India a slender first-innings lead. During a discussion on Sky Cricket, Karthik said that Bumrah is currently ‘as valuable as the Kohinoor diamond’ and even highlighted his stunning numbers in Test cricket.

“He is as valuable as the Kohinoor diamond. I hope people realise how important he is to the team across formats. He will make it work regardless of formats, bowling phase and any kind of ball. But more importantly, he has got the brain that knows what the batter is trying to do and he has got that wired very nicely. In the history of the game, for any bowler who has picked more than 200 wickets, he has the best average and that tells you he is something very special,” he said. 

Legendary India cricketer Ravi Shastri compared Bumrah with Kapil Dev and West Indies great Malcolm Marshall. Shastri said on Sky Cricket that Bumrah is undoubtedly the best Indian fast bowler and even added that he is not far behind Marshall when it comes to reading the batter.

“There is no question he is India’s greatest fast bowler. I played with Kapil Dev but this guy is different. He can take any opposition apart, on any surface, in any format. I thought Malcolm Marshall was the best I saw in reading a batter and setting him up but this guy is not far behind. When he is swinging the new ball it becomes hard for any batter in the world to counter him, what with the action and the late release.”