Watch: Not Virat Kohli! Olympic Champion Neeraj Chopra Names This Indian Cricketer As Best Suited For His Sport
Two-time Olympic medalist Neeraj Chopra made a major revelation on Indian cricketer he feels is best suited for his sport-Javelin thrown. Neeraj won a magnificent Gold at 2020 Tokyo Olympics and then later won silver medal at Paris Olympics 2024. Notably, Neeraj is the reigning world champion and also the World No.1 in rankings in javelin. He has earlier lost the top shot to Anderson Peters but later reclaimed his throne.
Naturally every cricket fan would feel that the answer for this question is a no brainer as Only one Indian cricketer that comes close to having endurance, stealth and fitness like an athlete is none other than India's Star batter Virat Kohli but Shockingly Neeraj chose an Indian fast bowler for this role.
During a Special segment on Star Sports hosted by former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, Neeraj picked Jasprit Bumrah as the one best suited for Javelin. Chopra also shared the reasoning behind the pick, according to him fast bowlers have the required strength, technique, coordination and body needed for this sport. Neeraj also said that Bumrah would have been a successful jaelin Athlete if not for his heroics as an Indian pacer.
"I think it would be a fast bowler for sure. So, I think a fully fit Jasprit Bumrah will be good at it," Chopra said on Star Sports.
India's Golden Boy @Neeraj_chopra1 spills the beans! Who in the Indian cricket team does he think could dominate the javelin throw? Any guesses before we reveal the name?
javelin throw event on July 5, Sat, 7:00 PM, only on Star… pic.twitter.com/qaaiy61CHJ — Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 27, 2025
Jasprit Bumrah Heroics
India lost the first Test against England at Headingley, Leeds by five wickets. Despite Indian batter scoring ton of runs with five centurions, Jasprit was the talk of the town as he wrecked havoc with a fifer in the first innings. Bumrah was wicketless in the second innings but kept testing English batters during the chase. Lack of support from other end proved to be fatal for India.
Bumrah's fifer helped him break the record for most five-wicket hauls by an Indian bowler in England in Test cricket. Ahead of the Leeds Test, Jasprit Bumrah was tied for the most five-wicket hauls by an Indian in England, with two fifers joining an elite group that includes Lala Amarnath, Kapil Dev, B. Chandrasekhar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Vinoo Mankad, Chetan Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Nissar, and Surendranath.
In addition, this marked Bumrah's 12th five-wicket haul in overseas Tests, putting him on par with the legendary Kapil Dev for the most fifers by an Indian bowler in away matches.
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IND vs ENG: Three key factors for India's England turnaround – ‘Control, Kuldeep and batting advantage', says Sanjay Bangar
India's hapless five-wicket defeat to England in Headingley undid a heavy body of good work laid down by the top-order batters and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah earlier this week. While the side put on 300-plus runs in both innings, India's weaknesses were exposed by Ben Stokes and Co on muliple fronts, including all three departments. While India struck five centuries with Rishabh Pant (2), captain Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal coming to the fore, the sorry lower-order collapses meant India could not capitalise on their batting advantages. With an erratic seam attack behind him, even the menacing Bumrah could not do much when the English batters went on the aggressive in a record 371 chase. India dropped as many as eight catches in the field across two innings, further handing the advantage to England to take the lead in the five-match series. Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar listed three major factors where India will need to work on for an immediate turnaround in the series. Ahead of the second Test starting Wednesday in Edgbaston, Bangar said the visitors will need to minimise collapses after getting a start with the bat. 'When you have an advantage batting first or third, try to put the match out of the opposition's reach. In both innings of the first Test India had the opportunity but could not do that due to which England chased the target they got,' he said on Sta Sports. A post shared by Star Sports India (@starsportsindia) Bangar also stressed on bringing left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav into the XI. No wrist-spinner has played a Test in England against the hosts in the last four years, but Bangar believes Kuldeep can pick on England's weakness against the tribe. 'The team will have to think a bit on how to bring in Kuldeep Yadav. Given the approach we saw from England's batters in the first innings, Kuldeep Yadav being a wrist-spinner, the English batters have not done well often against wrist-spin,' Bangar remarked. The former India all-rounder also emphasised that the team will need to focus on improving the control in the pace department after the profligate outings for the pacers behind Bumrah at Leeds. Seamer Prasidh Krishna tallied 5/225 in the Test, with no pace bowler having ever conceded more runs at a worse economy in history. 'The third thing to see is how the fast bowling attack can give more control. Many bowlers conceded runs in excess of five runs or more per over in the first Test. That does not give the control captain and Bumrah who bowled well from one end did not get enough support either.'
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an hour ago
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ENG vs IND: Without Jasprit Bumrah, can India win a Test in Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy?
Back in the early '90s, television sets across India would flicker off the moment Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed. Such is the hold Jasprit Bumrah now exerts over the Indian Test team. It's been 'Bumrah or bust' for a side staring down the barrel of transition sooner than the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia in 2024-25, it was, for the most part, Bumrah against the Aussies over five grinding Tests. And when he broke down in the final clash, India's hopes of salvaging the series vanished with to June, and Indian cricket fans' worst fears are beginning to stir. Bumrah is set to miss the second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England. Despite piling up over 800 runs in the opener at Leeds-and with Bumrah snaring a five-for-India still lost. Now, with a Bazballing England looming in Birmingham, the prospect of facing them without their spearhead is unnerving, to say the least. 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Now, it's whether they can survive two without Bumrah-especially after the gutting loss in the series that brings us to the core question: can India win an overseas Test without Jasprit Bumrah? While many cricket romantics would swiftly say no, pointing to the glaring overdependence exposed at Headingley, let's turn to the numbers before India take the field at first, a quick detour: Did India err in openly declaring that Bumrah would play only three of the five Tests? Even if pre-planned, why hand England the tactical edge on a silver platter? There's no Mohammed Shami. Mohammed Siraj looks out of rhythm. And the rest of the pace group haven't bowled a single Test over in FRONTLINE PACERS WITHOUT BUMRAHMohammed Siraj - 37 TestsadvertisementAkash Deep - 7 TestsPrasidh Krishna - 4 TestsArshdeep Singh - Yet to debutRemove Bumrah, and the experience of this young seam group is effectively halved. 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Post his debut, that win percentage has doubled! Telling, isn't it?India will look to Brisbane 2021 for hope. That epic series finale saw them field a pace attack held together by tape and belief. No Bumrah. No Ashwin. Siraj-just two Tests old-led the line. Navdeep Saini played his second, and T Natarajan, flown in as a net bowler, was handed his debut. And yet, they took 20 wickets. Under Rahane's calm leadership, they rode Sydney's resilience into Brisbane's Birmingham 2024 is no Brisbane aren't playing traditional Test cricket. Under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, they've turned chasing 350+ into routine. Don't forget, it was at this very ground in 2022 that England chased down 379-against a Bumrah-led Bumrah is ruled out, you can bet England will gleefully shave off even the slimmest blade of grass from the surface. 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