"Jofra is pace, wickets, dot balls - I have never seen him bowl any better, to be honest. He is working over some of the great batsmen in the world"
Friday 23 October 2020 23:28, UK
Nasser Hussain says he has never seen Jofra Archer bowl better than during his current electric form in the IPL.
The England pace ace has taken 15 wickets in 11 games for Rajasthan Royals at an economy rate under seven, while he has also bowled 21 deliveries over 93 miles per hour.
"He is outstanding," Sky Cricket pundit and former England captain Hussain said on The IPL Cricket Show, which you can watch every Friday at 7pm on Sky Sports Cricket.
"You get some bowlers who take wickets and go at 15 an over. You have some that just bowl dot balls and don't get wickets.
"But Jofra is pace, wickets, dot balls - I have never seen him bowl any better, to be honest. He is working over some of the great batsmen in the world.
"He has David Warner nine times in the last year or so. Warner is his absolute bunny! Jofra is bowling serious wheels."
Archer's England team-mate Jonny Bairstow got first-hand experience of the paceman when he bowled him with a beauty in Thursday's game between Rajasthan and Bairstow's Sunrisers Hyderabad in Dubai.
"Jof is special. Bowling at the pace he does, he has upset every batsman in the competition," said batsman Bairstow, also a guest on the first IPL Cricket Show.
"He has nicked people off, had people in trouble on slower pitches with short-pitched balls and is also nipping it back with the new ball.
"At the death he has got different variations and skill. The way he executes his slower balls and yorkers is fantastic.
"Whether it be with a red Dukes ball that is swinging in England or a while-ball in Dubai, it doesn't really make a difference."
Shane Warne, who knows Archer well due to his role as a mentor with Rajasthan, added: "You can tell he is on by the way he runs in.
"A few times this summer in Test cricket we didn't see him steaming in like that. I wonder if it's because he thinks he has to bowl a lot of overs.
"I wonder if England management or Joe Root could say to him 'you are bowling three spells of three or four overs and I just want you to steam in'.
"Obviously if he is on a purple patch and has three or four wickets in that spell, you might give him an extra one but most of the time you can let him bowl four overs max a spell.
"He is special. Watching the way batsmen play him, he is so good."
Watch Archer in action for Rajasthan against Mumbai Indians, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 1.50pm on Sunday - and don't miss The IPL Cricket Show, every Friday at 7pm on the same channel.
