Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel will be a complementing pair; says Zaheer Khan

Indian pacemen Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel played for the first time together for India in the first T20I of the series against Sri Lanka. Praising the duo, the former India pace bowler Zaheer Khan feels that both of them will complement each other well and can do wonders for the country in the mega event - T20 World Cup 2022.

In the ongoing series against Sri Lanka, many players have returned to the side including Jasprit Bumrah, who didn’t feature in the recently concluded West Indies series.

With Bumrah being appointed as the vice-captain in the series, he has added responsibilities to go with it. Amid this situation, Patel’s brilliant performances have played a key role so far. Khan praised both fast bowlers and feels that they can complement each other well.

While speaking to Cricbuzz the former India pacer said, "Bumrah and Harshal will be a complementing pair... purely because when you talk about Bumrah, you talk about that awkward angle and fast yorkers. To add to that, he's got that beautiful variation of bowling slower ones. 

Khan further hailed the Haryana Hurricane by saying, “When you look at Harshal, his success story has been around people looking to attack. When batters are coming hard at him, he feels more comfortable and chances of him taking a wicket are on the higher side".

Notably, Patel, who snapped the ‘Purple Cap’ in IPL 2021, is in stunning form since his breakthrough season and has earned a maiden call-up on the back of that. On the other hand, Bumrah is one of the best in the business in recent times but has lacked a partner from the other end, especially in the final overs. 

With the emergence of the RCB pacer, both India and Bumrah have got some stress off their heads. 

Zaheer Khan concluded, "It will work in his favour when he has someone like Bumrah bowling from the other end. Batters would want to take more chances against Harshal than against Bumrah... and it would work in Harshal's favour. Bumrah is gonna make it very difficult for batters to score runs freely and that's gonna give an edge to Harshal to use his variations. I think this pair at the death overs will complement each other".

India have arrived in Dharamshala for the final two T20Is of the ongoing series, where both Bumrah and Patel will play a huge role for ‘Men in Blue’.