Shane Watson is one of the greatest all-rounders to have played cricket. The burly Australian has a plethora of titles to his name while playing an integral part in the success of the national team. Even in the IPL, Watson has always been a target for top teams. After facing a host of top bowlers and tormenting a lot of them in his career, Watson retired from international cricket in 2016 but continued to play franchise cricket.
He is turning out for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2020 and is an important cog in the wheel for their success.
Watson was recently asked to name his list of the top five bowlers to have played T20 cricket. And who did he pick? There were some interesting choices.
“The first one in my top 5 T20 bowlers of all time is the greatest T20 bowler, Lasith Malinga… His execution of yorkers is something that has not been seen before and might not be seen again for a long period of time,” Watson said in a video on T20 Stars’ Youtube channel.
“Number two is Shahid Afridi. I am just talking about his bowling right now, he is obviously an incredibly dynamic batsman but from bowling perspective, he is the perfect T20 bowler. He is a wicket-taker but also, he does not concede that many runs. And that is a T20 bowler you always need in your team,” he added.
Watson was all praise for Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah as he maintained that despite being 26 years old, Bumrah’s impact has been “absolutely phenomenal”.
“He, for me, is an all-round package. He is only 26 at the moment but the dominance that he has had in T20 cricket so far as a bowler is absolutely phenomenal,” Watson said.
“He has got speed, he can swing the bowl both ways, he has got a great change of pace, his execution of his yorkers is incredible as well… Facing him is a huge challenge, he has got so many different high-quality bowling options and you got to be absolutely on your game to be able to score and put him under pressure. I am sure he will be absolutely great at the end of his career in T20 cricket alone with incredible skills that he has got,” he added.
Watson named CSK teammate Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine as the other two bowlers in his list of all-time greats.
