“He won’t be able to take my smash,” Saina Nehwal challenges Jasprit Bumrah to face her smashes

Saina Nehwal challenges Jasprit Bumrah to test his reflexes against her powerful smashes while also talking about the dominance of cricket.

Saina Nehwal (inset) and Jasprit Bumrah (Via Daily Pioneer/X )

Star Badminton player, Saina Nehwal, has made her views clear about the importance of cricket in India compared to all other sports. She has called other sports as more physically demanding than cricket and this has created more controversy.

In India, cricket definitely carries the most weightage when compared to other sports. There is a huge investment in cricket and it also brings the most profit. BCCI is the richest board in the world and the infrastructure, investment are more on cricket than any other sport. Nehwal feels that other sports in India should be looked at and provided with more support and investment.

Nehwal stated that sports like badminton, tennis, and basketball demand more physicality than cricket which is a skill-based sport. This comment did not please a lot of cricket fans, especially KKR youngster, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who challenged her to face a bouncer from Jasprit Bumrah. Nehwal has finally broken her silence on this matter.

Why would I face Jasprit Bumrah anyways? If I had been playing for 8 years maybe I would have answered Jasprit Bumrah.

Saina Nehwal on Shubhankar Mishra’s podcast

The 2012 Olympic Bronze medalist also talked about equal efforts for every sport and taking the sporting culture forward without any fights.

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Saina Nehwal also challenged Jasprit Bumrah to take on her smashes

Nehwal talked about how every sport is tough in their respective places. She talked about how Bumrah can’t face her smashes just like how she can’t face Bumrah’s bouncers. Nehwal also talked about how Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have made a name for themselves with their performances and become a rare talent. However, she cautioned regarding not disrespecting other sports.

Saina Nehwal, Jasprit Bumrah — Saina Nehwal (Via Getty)

If Jasprit Bumrah plays badminton with me maybe he won't be able to take my smash. We should not fight with ourselves in our own country for these things. How will you become Virat (Kohli) at that level? How will you become Rohit Sharma? So many players have to become like them. They can't. Only a few of them are like that. But I just feel that it's more of a skill-based sport. And bowlers, I agree. I won't die there.

Saina Nehwal on Shubhankar Mishra’s podcast

Team India and players like Kohli and Sharma recently achieved success in the T20 World Cup 2024. The Indian team under Sharma went on to win the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 without losing any game.

They were welcomed back in India with lakhs of Indians joining their open bus parade celebrations in Marine Drive. It proves the unchallenged popularity of cricket in India. Cricket has always attracted such a fanbase in India. It is like a religion in India and all in all, it is definitely going to continue like this in the upcoming time period.

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