India have to manage precious resources like Jasprit Bumrah: Ian Bishop

Former West Indies paceman Ian Bishop believes that India have realised that quality fast bowlers are absolutely essential to succeed at the international level.

The Indian fast bowling arsenal has gone from strength to strength over the last few years. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have given skipper Virat Kohli the firepower to succeed in all conditions.

The consistency of India’s seam bowling attack has helped them win Test matches in England, Australia, and South Africa.

Ian Bishop, who was briefly part of golden age of West Indies pacers, believes that Indian cricket is witnessing a new age when it comes to fast bowling.

“India are at the forefront, the vanguard, of this fast bowling renaissance because they obviously recognised this years ago,” Ian Bishop said on Sony Ten’s Pit Stop show.

“If you want to be the number one team in the world, you cannot rely on your spinners all the time because when you travel to western countries, spin is apparently only a certain stage of the game, you have to have fast bowling and India have found that,” he added.

Ian Bishop represented West Indies in 43 Tests and 84 ODIs in a 9-year career marred by injuries, and picked up 161 Test and 118 ODI wickets.

For someone who knows about managing workloads, Ian Bishop harped on giving Jasprit Bumrah enough breaks to rejuvenate his body.

“Jasprit is one of a small group of bowlers who transcend the various formats of the game. But you can’t expect him to last if he is playing every game in every format. The human body cannot do that. You have to manage these precious resources because he is a generational talent,” the 52-year-old Trinidadian said.

In the last four years, Jasprit Bumrah has already turned out in 14 Tests, 64 ODIs and 50 T20s for India.

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Ian Bishop on the best fast bowlers in the world currently

Meanwhile, Ian Bishop said that leading English paceman Jofra Archer is one of the best young pace bowling talents currently.

“England have Jofra Archer and Mark Wood to supplement the experience of (Stuart) Broad and (James) Anderson. Jofra I think has the best action in world cricket at the moment.

“Pakistan have found at least three young bowlers that are really good. Sri Lanka have one that I can think of, Lahiru Kumara. New Zealand have good quick bowlers as well,” Ian Bishop said about the pace bowling talent around the world.

Ian Bishop added that international cricket is witnessing a golden period when it comes to fast bowling, with Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins impressing him immensely.

“I think we are in a golden period of fast bowling. You look at what the West Indies are bringing, then there is (Mitchell) Starc and (Josh) Hazlewood for Australia along with the number one ranked Test bowler in the world as well (Pat Cummins),” Ian Bishop said.