Former Mumbai Indians (MI) coach Shane Bond has heaped praise on his former proteges, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. The former Kiwi pacer was extremely successful as a coach in the IPL, helping his franchise win four titles in his nine-year tenure. Bond was MI’s bowling coach and helped them nurture several younger talents, including the likes of Bumrah and Pandya.
Talking to Sportstar about how it feels to see Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya go from unknown to world-class bowlers, Bond said:
“It felt nice seeing them (Bumrah and Pandya) develop into international players and then world-class players; it has been fun to be a small part of that as well. My nine years at Mumbai was a fantastic time.”
Apart from Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, Bond also talked about the new crop of players the world saw at the ODI World Cup 2023. While praising up-and-coming bowlers like Mohammed Siraj, Gerald Coetzee, and Dilshan Madushanka, he said:
“Siraj is awesome at the moment. You are seeing guys like Shaheen Afridi emerge, but you forget how young he is. He has had some injury problems, and you forget he is 23 years of age, and the expectation on the young guy has been massive. We also saw the emergence of a lot of young, good fast bowlers at the World Cup, like Dilshan Madushanka and Gerald Coetzee.”
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