'Bumrah-powered India well placed for World Cup' – Jason Gillespie

Bumrah, the No.1-ranked bowler in the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Rankings, was rested from India's ongoing ODI series against Australia and Gillespie believes that his inclusion in India's XI makes the team well-placed to challenge for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019.

"I think the Indian attack is well balanced. Bumrah has been rested for obvious reason but their attack is still quite good," Gillespie told PTI.

"Everyone offers different things, and you add Bumrah to it, so they are well placed to mount a challenge for the World Cup. I think England are the obvious favourites, but India won't be far behind."

Gillespie pointed out Bumrah's "sling-shot action" and variation of pace as the components of his bowling that are likely to trouble the batsmen. "I enjoy watching Bumrah bowl. He just ambles in but when he gets to the crease, he almost has a sling-shot action," Gillespie said.

"He bowls at good pace, hurries the batsmen up, and he can also change his pace a lot. He is a very fine bowler. His action does stand out. It is a braced front leg, delayed bowling-arm action. It gets you to the crease quickly, and delivers that sling shot. It is what generates his pace.

"But you need to be strong to be able to do that. Bumrah is robust and fit to bowl long spells in Test cricket. He keeps his pace up throughout a Test and this is what makes him an exciting bowler."

The former Australian fast bowler also called MS Dhoni a master at playing according to the match situation owing to the latter's experience. Dhoni's unbeaten 55 in the second ODI in Adelaide helped India successfully complete the run chase of 299 and level the series, after Kohli had set it up with his 39th ODI hundred.

"India have benefitted from Dhoni's finishing ability for more than a decade," Gillespie said. "They are still benefitting from it. They benefitted from his experience when they were down at 4/3 in Sydney as well. He was a bit slow in Sydney but you have to understand why. He played the situation."

Dhoni's knock of 51 off 96 balls in the first ODI in Sydney could not take India past Australia's 288 and while the strike-rate was on the lower side, he and Rohit Sharma (133) added 137 runs for the fourth wicket kept India in the hunt after they lost a trio of early wickets.

"It is tough to keep coming down the order and playing as per different situations," Gillespie pointed out.

"In Adelaide, he had a completely different situation, so he played differently. He has played over 300 ODIs so he knows how to play these different situations."

Calling Kohli's hundred at Adelaide "an absolute masterclass" Gillespie too had his say in the comparison drawn between the current India captain and Sachin Tendulkar. "He is a class player and a different batsman to everyone else," Gillespie said.

"Numbers speak for themselves and you genuinely don't need to add anything to it. Thirty-nine hundreds and 10,000 plus runs in ODI cricket in 50 fewer innings than Tendulkar.

"And we all knew how good a player Tendulkar was. It is simply incredible what Kohli is doing. He is the best in world cricket at the moment, simple."