Jasprit Bumrah is the “smartest fast bowler” in contemporary cricket who has learnt the art of deceiving rival batsmen in air, something that was the secret of success for Pakistani greats, believes Shoaib Akhtar.

One of the game’s fastest bowlers, Shoaib is impressed with Bumrah’s skill-sets and his ability to outwit a batsman in a mere “five seconds” from an ungainly run-up which isn’t exactly a critic’s delight.

“He (Bumrah) is probably India’s first fast bowler who checks the wind speed and wind direction rather than how much grass has been left on the track. This used to be the art of Pakistanis, we used to know how you could play with the wind,” Akhtar said on a YouTube channel.

“We used to actually (do that), me, Wasim bhai and Waqar bhai, we used to note the wind speed and direction. We knew mechanics and aero dynamics of fast bowling. I think Bumrah knows these sort of things which I think other fast bowlers hardly know,” Shoaib added.