Jasprit Bumrah Is Like Gold, Lot Of Other Bowlers Make Me Pull My Hair Out: Dale Steyn

Last Updated:March 17, 2025, 18:48 IST

Dale Steyn praises Kagiso Rabada and Jasprit Bumrah as the gold standard fast-bowlers for their skill and adaptability.

Jasprit Bumrah (Picture credit: BCCI)

Former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn called his compatriot Kagiso Rabada and India’s Jasprit Bumrah the ‘gold’ standard fast-bowlers who are not only skillful but intelligent and adaptive across situations. In comparison, Steyn said he has seen international players with decades of experience who don’t know how to adjust their fields, which sometimes even makes him ‘pull my hair out’.

Bumrah and Rabada are the first and second-ranked ICC men’s Test bowlers and among the few all-format superstars of this generation. Rabada averages 22.01, 27.46 and 27.15 in Tests, ODIs and T20Is, while Bumrah took his Test average to 19.4 earlier this year and takes wickets at 23.55 and 17.74 in ODIs and T20Is.

“I have seen international players today that will run in and bowl six balls without changing the field once, and they’ve played for ten years at the highest level. And sometimes I sit there and I’m pulling my hair out and I just think, can you not see what’s going to happen?” Steyn said in an interview on ESPNcricinfo. 

“You look at guys like [Jasprit] Bumrah, he’s probably the all-in-all package, him and KG Rabada. They’ve got the ability to come and bowl at any particular time in a game and take a wicket. Those guys are like gold. So if you can produce more bowlers like that, we’ll start to see our fast-bowling stock get so much better. It’s not just about bowling 155kph these days or having tens of different types of skills, it’s really about being able to break the game open when your captain needs it,” he added.

In the same interview, former New Zealand pacer and IPL coach Shane Bond claimed that 70% of international bowlers ‘don’t know what they are doing’. He said what sets Bumrah apart is his preparation and instinct.

“There’s always an assumption as an international bowler: he knows what he’s doing. I think 70% of bowlers don’t know what they are doing. I say to my captains, don’t ever be afraid to tell a bowler what to bowl and then manoeuvre the field for them. Because sometimes just the simplicity of the task makes a massive difference,” Bond said in the interview.

“If you look at Bumrah, who’s the best bowler in the world, he’s that combination of, obviously, skill, [but he] works really hard, does his preparation on the batsman and has the ability to use his instinct as well. And when you combine those four things, that’s why he is No. 1 in the world. A lot of bowlers don’t have those four things,” he added.

Bumrah is reportedly set to miss the Mumbai Indians’ first few games of IPL 2024, whereas Rabada will feature for Gujarat Titans.