Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes India have the greatest bowler of all-time at their disposal in Jasprit Bumrah.
The first of five Tests between the two countries begins on Friday at Headingley in what should be a thoroughly entertaining and engaging series.
Bumrah is not expected to play in all five matches and is likely to compete in just three games in an attempt to maintain his fitness, but Vaughan fears his influence when he is on the pitch.
The 50-year-old claimed on The Overlap and Betfair’s Stick to Cricket show that Bumrah has become the best bowler ever thanks to his success with India across all three formats, and he is sticking to that opinion.
‘Yeah, I’ve never seen anyone bowl with such an action,’ he told Metro. ‘With so much pace, with so much accuracy, so much movement, so much skill, so much thought and across all the formats of the game. Yeah, I think he’s the best I’ve seen.
‘I know there are bowlers from the past that I’ve never even seen other than clips on YouTube, but from my time being a pro from ’92 to being a broadcaster now in 2025, he’s the best I’ve seen.
‘He’s got that release which is closer. So, he obviously seems that little bit quicker, because he is quick, but also because he releases it that little bit later. He’s a genius.’
The 31-year-old boasts incredible figures for his country in an international career which began in January 2016.
He arrives in England this summer with 205 Test wickets to his name from 45 matches at an average of 19.40.
With the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Vaughan sees an inexperienced batting line-up, but feels Bumrah is still good enough to bowl his team to victory.
The Yorkshireman also notes that even India’s inexperienced Test batters have overcome the wildly pressurised environment of the IPL, so should not be written off as being able to deal with the English attack, which will be missing the likes of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood in Leeds.
Michael Vaughan’s Five Greatest Bowlers
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Shane Warne
- Muttiah Muralitharan
- Glenn McGrath
- Dale Steyn*
* Vaughan added: ‘I’ll have to put Dale Steyn in there because he used to knock my off stump flying on a regular basis.’
‘Don’t rule out this Indian side because the England bowling is inexperienced,’ said Vaughan. ‘The Indian batting is inexperienced, but they’ve got so much talent. And how much worth do you put on the experience of the pressure that they cope with in the IPL?
‘Sai Sudharsan is just dominating the IPL once again. Karun Nair is a regular run-scorer. All these players are so flamboyant and know how to deal with the pressure.
‘I guess if the Duke ball moves around, they’ll struggle, but if it’s a few weeks of dryness and the ball doesn’t do a great deal, Jaspit Bumrah might be the key.’
Vaughan makes England favourites to win the series against India in what is a huge year for Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes as leaders of the team.
Following the series with India this summer is an Ashes campaign in Australia over the winter and Vaughan feels the Test team now have the chance to prove that their thrill-seeking game plan, indulged in risk, has both substance and style.
‘The Test team have been fantastic to watch, brilliant,’ he said. ‘But they haven’t won an Ashes and they’ve not got to a World Test Championship final.
‘I guess if they don’t do that, you’d argue that playing the expansive way has been royally entertaining, but didn’t get the cherries at the end of it.
‘This year gives them an opportunity to get some nice silverware. That’s what you want.
‘If you can win things by playing entertainingly, it’s the right way to play. and entertain the crowd, be expansive, but I don’t think you can be expansive all the time.’
