"You could be out by then" - Ricky Ponting reveals chat with Aussie batter on facing Jasprit Bumrah during BGT 2024-25

Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has revealed the conversation he had with Steve Smith during the Test series against India regarding facing Jasprit Bumrah. With Bumrah dismissing Smith multiple times in the series, Ponting told the former captain that he struggles the most to deal with the star pacer.

The 31-year-old pacer maintained his stranglehold on the Aussie batters throughout the series, picking up 32 wickets at 13.06 in nine innings. Bumrah dismissed Smith thrice in the series, including for a rare golden duck in the series opener in Perth.

Speaking on 7cricket, Ponting revealed how Smith observed that batters hardly get time to acclimatize to a bowler as peculiar as Bumrah. However, the 35-year-old said batters will hardly ever be able to find their feet against him.

"I had a chance to talk to Aussies on what makes it so difficult. I've been seeing him for a long time, I captained him in IPL when he first came into the scene as a 17-year-old. I talked to Steve Smith, who has a good method of working fast bowlers out. He said that he finds Bumrah's visual cues a bit hard to pick up than the most, and that it can take take you four, five, or six balls. Sometimes, you could be out by then."

"If you didn't get things right by that stage when you're facing Bumrah on a challenging surface, your game could be over pretty quickly," he added.

The Ahmedabad-born speedster missed day three of the fifth Test in Sydney when India had the opportunity to bowl Australia out for victory. Bumrah was suffering from a back spasm and was unable to take the field.

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"He made all of them at different times look silly" - Ricky Ponting on Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah. (Image Credits: Getty)

Speaking on an episode of the ICC Review, Ponting said it's been a series headlined by the fast bowlers, and Bumrah, in particular, made batting look the toughest.

He added:

"No doubt, it's probably the best series of fast bowling I've ever seen. Yes, they had good conditions, the fast bowlers, for most of this series. But when you watched him (Bumrah) bowl compared to anyone else in the series, he made batting look so much harder. There's a lot of quality batting in that Australian top-order as well but he made all of them at different times look silly."

Bumrah, meanwhile, runs the risk of missing the 2025 Champions Trophy due to the back spasm.