Jasprit Bumrah shouldn't tire himself out by 'running after county cricket,' says former Pakistan bowler Wasim Akram

Legendary Wasim Akram believes the someone like Jasprit Bumrah shouldn’t exhaust himself by playing in the English county as he is already playing three formats of international cricket. [caption id=“attachment_8038441” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Jasprit Bumrah. AP[/caption] It must be noted that Bumrah till date has not played county cricket as he is one of the biggest draws of Indian Premier League, which has a gruelling schedule. “Cricket has become too much today. A guy like Bumrah being a top bowler, India no 1, I would have suggested him to relax and not run after county cricket. Young players need to play more first-class cricket, from there they will learn bowling,” Akram said. However, Test cricket remains the ultimate format for the ‘Sultan of Swing’. “T20 is amazing, good entertainment; there’s plenty of money involved and I’m all in for the importance of money in a sport and the players,” Akram, regarded as one of the greatest left-arm pacers the game has ever produced told Aakash Chopra on his YouTube channel. “They won’t learn bowling from T20. I don’t judge a player by T20 performance, I judge them from their performances in the longer version of cricket.” Akram also recalled his initial days as a Pakistan cricketer and said he absolutely had no clue about his talent. “When I came in the team as a youngster I used to listen to Imran (Khan) bhai, Javed (Miandad) bhai, Mudassar Nazar say that this kid has talent but that time I didn’t understand what they were trying to say. Then I asked Imran Khan and he said your pace is deceptive and swing the ball and then I started to work on those areas.” “Nothing comes easy was one advice which I learnt from all these three players all though their ways were different. As a bowler, our job is to create doubts in the minds of the batsmen. I enjoyed the tag that I am talented,” said Akram.