"Bumrah's action is his main problem. During loading, this kind of action puts enormous strain on the back. This is an injury-prone action. With this kind of action, I don't see him playing 10 years of injury-free international cricket. I may be wrong as I am not an astrologer but that's how I feel," Aaqib told PTI during an interview ahead of UAE's match against India.
"Mustafiz and Taskin are both 20-year-olds and look at their quality. Taskin regularly hits 145 kmph mark and Mustafiz has such amazing variations. Bumrah at best is a fast medium bowler and team expects him to get a wicket or two and hurl a few in the blockhole at the death. Now that will make him a good Twenty20 bowler but beyond that I don't know," Aaqib said.
The 43-year-old Aaqib is also surprised that the likes of Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Varun Aaron are out because of either inconsistency or injuries.
Aaqib even termed 37-year-old Ashish Nehra as a short
term solution to India's fast bowling problems.
"The best part about T20 cricket is that you can play this format for a long time even if you have aged. What do you need to do in a T20? Just bowl 24 deliveries and field for 16 overs. You don't need any extra-ordinary fitness for playing T20. Ashish has experience and that's helping him. But I believe, he will struggle even in 50 overs leave aside days' cricket," he said.
Asked if he has forgiven Aamir, Aaqib said: "Forgiving or not forgiving is a different issue. That he has been forgiven is the reason he is again playing the game and people are getting entertained.
"Nothing wrong in that but if someone in future does like what all Aamir did, my stance will remain the same as this is bad stuff and we should discourage these things. But I am not stubborn, now that he is back. Okay let's move on and give him a chance."
"What he showed in the past few matches, I am feeling so bad. In five years, he has missed 200 Test wickets and should have been leading Pakistan attack by now. He will in any case lead Pakistan attack for next 10 years.
"But had he not lost those five years, there was a possibility that he might have surpassed Wasim Akram with his qualities. But if he has been repentant and learnt from his mistakes, hope he will serve Pakistan cricket for long," he concluded.
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