Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami have different strengths and weaknesses, but both know the art of picking up regular wickets.
Team India currently boasts of a great assortment of pace bowlers like Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Navdeep Saini among others and has enough options to choose from.
Two pace bowlers have stood out - Bumrah and Shami.
When in search of a wicket, captain Virat Kohli throws the ball to one of them and more often than not, they deliver. Here's a comparative look at their performances in test cricket:
Impact
Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah are bowlers with a golden arm. More than keeping the runs dry, they have a knack of picking up wickets and repay the faith of skipper Virat Kohli whenever he throws the ball to them.
While Shami can be a bit erratic when there is swing on offer, Bumrah provides more control. In terms of the probability of taking a wicket, Shami is better placed, but when it comes to keeping the runs dry and sticking to a line and length, Bumrah has come a long way since making his test debut.
Let's put it this way, while Bumrah is India's go-to bowler in the first innings; there are not many in the world who can compete with Shami's X-factor in the second innings.
Pace
Both bowlers are capable of breaching the 140 kph mark consistently. Shami generally operates in the 135 to 140 kph area and can crank it up to 145 kph when in full flow.
Bumrah is a couple of yards quicker and generally bowls at 140 kph or above. He can even hit speeds of 147-148 kph when he gets going.
Overseas performances
On India's tour of England in 2018, Mohammad Shami finished as India's second-highest wicket-taker behind Ishant Sharma. He picked up 16 wickets from five matches at an average of 38.8, including one 4-fer.
On the other hand, Bumrah picked up 14 wickets, two less than Shami, but he did it at a better average of 25.93, including one 5-wicket haul.
In Australia, Bumrah went to another level, picking up 21 wickets from four matches. Shami also did a fine job with 16 wickets from four games. Both picked up one 5-wicket haul each.
Interestingly, Jasprit Bumrah is yet to play a test match in India, but with his Ranji Trophy experience, he is expected to do well in his own conditions also.
