Chennai: Mumbai Indians support staff Robin Singh has seen Jasprit Bumrah’s rise from being a scrawny, young pacer in the IPL team’s dugout to India’s pivotal death-overs bowler in a span of three years.
Like India skipper M.S. Dhoni, Robin, too, backed the Gujarat pacer’s ability to find the block-hole consistently under pressure. The former India fielding coach, however, added a caveat about Bumrah’s fitness. “There is no doubt about his skills. It’s a question of keeping himself fit,” Robin said on Tuesday.
“When we picked him for Mumbai in 2013, we had no clue on how he would perform considering his unorthodox action. His bowling talent persuaded us to sign him. We were always worried about his fitness and he got injured last year. He had to undergo an operation and he has made a strong comeback. I feel he looks physically stronger now,” the 52-year-old said.
Robin said Bumrah reminded him of former India pacer L. Balaji. “The TN player had so much potential with the ball but frequent injuries curtailed his career. Similarly, Bumrah has always been a skillful bowler. He must pay attention to keep himself fit all the time,” he added.
According to Robin, who was the fielding coach of the World Cup winning Indian T20 team under Dhoni in 2007, India would be the front-runners to nail the forthcoming T20 World Cup.
“From my experience I can tell you most countries fear playing India in India. They feel intimidated playing here and find it difficult to adjust to our conditions,” he added.
The former India allrounder, who coaches Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League, picked Ravindra Jadeja as India’s best allrounder not just in Indian conditions but on most places. “India ideally need a good fast bowling allrounder. But it will take time. At the moment Jadeja is right up there. He is a brilliant fielder, bats well in difficult situations and he did well even in Australia,” he said.
Robin credited Dhoni for India’s transformation into a top T20 side since the inaugural World T20 in 2007. “Dhoni is probably the best captain India have had.
I hear a lot of people say he shouldn’t play Tests and all. It’s non-sense. Give the man credit for what he has done and he has taken Indian cricket to a different level,” he said.
Though Indian cricketers have come up leaps and bounds in fielding in the last decade, Robin felt the inability of the fielders to hit the stumps on a regular basis is a big worry.
“Even in the first two ODIs in Australia, had we hit the stumps on a few occasions, we could have gone on to win the series,” he added.
