India’s pace bowling sensation Jasprit Bumrah is a “phenomenal talent” and is only expected to get better as he plays more and more matches, stated his national teammate KL Rahul.

Both the Indian stars are not part of the Indian squad which is fighting it out against the South African team at the moment. While Bumrah was not available for selection because of an injury, Rahul has been excluded from the team because of his poor form in Test matches.

“He (Bumrah) is a phenomenal talent and I’ve had the privilege and opportunity to play with him even before he had the opportunity to play for his country. We played on the same junior level team and he’s always someone that’s very determined and dedicated and very passionate about cricket, and he’s someone you don’t want to mess with because he bowls the ball at serious speeds and he’s a competitor off the field even when we are playing against each other.

“There’s no mercy for the guys who play for the country — he’s always very competitive. The things that he’s doing for the country right now is absolutely fantastic and I know he’s only going to grow and get better,” Rahul was quoted as saying during a Red Bull interaction.

The 27-year-old stylish cricketer stated that he would love to be teammates with somebody like Ben Stokes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Stokes played a pivotal role in England’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 winning campaign. He was then the savior for them in Ashes Test.

“What he did was unbelievable. It will always remain the best Test match that was ever played. To play an innings like that is incredible,” Rahul said.

“He (Stokes) can bowl, he’s a phenomenal fielder, yeah, he’s played out there before and he’s had a great impact on the teams he’s played for. I hope he can play for my team, it’d be great to have him in my team,” he added.

Rahul went on to reveal that Pat Cummins is the most difficult bowler he has faced in his career so far.

“I found him (Cummins) very hard to face. Rashid Khan has always got the edge over me — he has my number a little bit. (There’s) Nathan Lyon from Australia (also). All these guys and Bumrah of course,” he added.