‘Bumrah Is a Cheat Code’: Ashwin Praises Pacer’s Match-Winning Impact

Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has praised star pacer Jasprit Bumrah. He labeled Bumrah as a ‘cheat code’ following Mumbai Indians’ win over Gujarat Titans on Friday.

The five-time champions booked their place in Qualifier 2 of IPL 2025 after winning on May 30 in Mullanpur. They will face Punjab Kings on June 1 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

The Shubman Gill-led side looked good to chase 229 set by Mumbai Indians, which made MI’s bowlers nervous. Sai Sudharsan and Washington Sundar accumulated 84 runs for the third wicket. It was Bumrah who took the crucial wicket of Sundar by bowling a yorker that bowled him out at 48 runs.

‘He makes a captain look better’

Praising Bumrah, Ashwin commented that the pacer makes the captain look better than they actually are. MI skipper Hardik Pandya also said that it is a luxury to have a bowler like Bumrah in the team.

“This game could have gone even closer if Jasprit Bumrah‘s over didn’t happen. The asking rate was like 12, 13, 14 but he gave like 7 or 8 runs in his last two overs. Rahul Tewatia hit him for a six but still, the way he came back and gave one run in the next two balls, that defines Bumrah. I had tweeted during the T20 World Cup that Bumrah is a cheat code in today’s T20 cricket. Have you ever played this road rash, NFS game? It’s a cheat code,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel ‘Ash Ki Baat’.

“If you play these games, you can enter a code, and you can run faster. You can beat everyone else. It’s a cheat code. In today’s world, as a captain, sometimes I feel Jasprit Bumrah makes a captain look better than they actually are. The way he nails those yorkers, changes up his slower balls, all that said and done, I think Mumbai also went to yorkers very early,” he added.

Ashwin urges not to compare players from different generations

Ashwin also asked his fans not to compare Bumrah with Malcolm Marshall and Wasim Akram. He is not a fan of comparing players from different generations.

“I have never seen Malcolm Marshall’s bowling. But, I have heard a lot about him. I have seen Wasim Akram’s bowling. He has given nightmares to the Indian team. But, this comparison across generations is a very wrong thing to do. In today’s world, in Indian cricket, in the landscape in which we consider batsmen to be great people, I am so, so happy,” said Ashwin.

“I am talking in my own language because everyone sees this. Otherwise, I would have been a little more free-flowing. I am so, so, so happy for Jasprit Bumrah. Jasprit Bumrah has definitely given phillip for Indian fast bowlers to run in a long way and bowl with smartness, with solid execution. Jasprit Bumrah, the bowler, has won. But, what he has done to the community of bowling in India, especially fast bowling, is another topic altogether,” he added.

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