Former England fast bowler James Anderson has given one of the biggest compliments to India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah. His words came just hours before India face New Zealand national cricket team in the final of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Ahmedabad.

Anderson, who is the first fast bowler in Test cricket history to take 600 wickets, praised Bumrah’s unique bowling ability. Such recognition from a legendary pacer could further boost Bumrah’s morale before the big match.

However, the Indian fast bowler already looks in excellent form. His performances throughout the tournament have played a major role in helping India reach the final.

Bumrah’s Match-Winning Spell Against England

Bumrah delivered a crucial performance in the semifinal against the England national cricket team earlier this week at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

The match turned into a high-scoring contest, with India posting a massive total of 253 runs. Despite England’s strong batting response, Bumrah’s disciplined bowling in the final overs proved decisive.

In his last two overs, he gave away only 14 runs. This tight spell helped India secure a narrow seven-run victory and book their place in the final.

Key Breakthroughs Against West Indies

Before the semifinal, India faced the West Indies cricket team in a virtual knockout match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Bumrah made a crucial impact in that game as well. In a single over, he dismissed two important batters — Shimron Hetmyer and Roston Chase.

Those wickets slowed down the West Indies’ scoring momentum and prevented them from setting a much larger total.

Anderson Calls Bumrah a “Freak”

Speaking on a podcast with the BBC, Anderson openly expressed his admiration for Bumrah’s bowling skills.

“The thing about Bumrah is, I look at him and think, I don't think you can learn anything from him. Like, he's an absolute freak. There's not one bowler in the world in any format, men or women who can bowl six yorkers out of six and absolutely nail it every time. Even one of the yorkers, he bowled [vs England] in his last over was a slow ball. So he's nailed five fast yorkers and one slowball yorker, like you can't hit them anywhere,” Anderson praised Bumrah effusively.

The former England pacer highlighted how rare it is for any bowler to consistently deliver perfect yorkers with such precision.

England Batters Found No Answers

According to Anderson, England’s batters realised that scoring boundaries against Bumrah was extremely difficult. As a result, they focused on rotating the strike rather than attacking him.

He felt players like Jacob Bethell and Sam Curran handled Bumrah’s spell wisely by trying to collect singles.

"England did really well to get six [balls] off the hole, like they squeezed the ball out. They actually played it pretty well because they thought we know that we can't get boundaries off it or it's going to be really hard to get boundaries off him.

"So we'll just take our chances against the other two at the other end. And they saw at the end Dube bowl in the last over went for 22 with Jofra Archer smacking him. I know the game was gone then, but he was trying to bowl a yorker and was missing by a decent amount. So it's just a ridiculous skill. There's no one or certainly in T20 cricket, there's no one better than him," Anderson explained.

His comments underline how difficult it is for batters to counter Bumrah’s unique bowling style, especially in the shortest format of the game.