The art of wicket taking is extremely crucial in the modern day game.
The modern game of cricket has been designed to benefit batters over bowlers, from using two new balls per innings in ODIs to field restrictions in powerplays. The general notion has become for batters to get aggressive while bowlers are tasked with minimising risks. Thus the art of wicket-taking becomes even more crucial, especially for fast bowlers who mostly start off the proceedings in a match.
Echoing on the same lines, former New Zealand great Shane Bond stated that most bowlers in the international circuit are not up to the standards.
Speaking to Cricket Monthly, the 49-year-old Kiwi said, “There’s always an assumption as an international bowler: he knows what he’s doing. I think 70% of bowlers don’t know what they are doing. And when you are under extreme pressure, actually you have to dumb down stuff.”
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While Shane Bond criticised the large majority of pacers in the business currently, he highlighted Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah and Proteas quick Kagiso Rabada as exceptions to the current bunch.
The Kiwi believes the likes of Bumrah and Rabada are a ‘all-in-all’ package who possess the ability to make inroads in whichever stage of the game they are bowling.
Bond added, “Those guys are like gold. So if you can produce more bowlers like that, we’ll start to see our fast-bowling stock get so much better. It’s not just about bowling 155kph these days or having tens of different types of skills, it’s really about being able to break the game open when your captain needs it.”
Both Jasprit Bumrah and Rabada will next be seen in action in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) season. Whille Boom will don the Mumbai Indians (MI) outfit again (subject to availability), Rabada will turn out for the Gujarat Titans (GT).
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