"Jasprit Bumrah Superb But Jimmy Anderson Is My Pick": Rishi Sunak To NDTV

Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak picked England legend Jimmy Anderson over Indian cricket team star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah. At the NDTV World Summit 2025, Sunak was asked to pick between the two pacers, and although he called Bumrah 'superb', the former UK PM went on to pick Anderson. He praised Anderson for his humility and work ethic, while also expressing joy at recommending him for knighthood. "I was very fortunate to recommend to His Majesty that Jimmy Anderson be awarded a knighthood. Objectively, his career over the past 20 years is genuinely inspiring. It's not just his commitment and work ethic; his humility is quite extraordinary for a top-tier sportsman," he said.

"Bumrah is superb but Sir Jimmy Anderson will have to be my pick," he added.

#NDTVWorldSummit2025 | "My favourite player while growing up was Rahul Dravid": Former UK PM Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) @rahulkanwal @VishnuNDTV @PadmajaJoshi #NDTVWorldSummit pic.twitter.com/fbZ8sqcDfv

— NDTV (@ndtv) October 17, 2025

Sunak also opened up about his love for cricket and revealed that he was a fan of Indian cricket team legend Rahul Dravid. Sunak said that there is cricket in 'every part of his life' and added that he even used to try copying Dravid's batting technique.

"I am obviously cheering for England but I have a soft spot for India, as you can imagine. That is why, I get my fix from RCB. That is my other passion as well as my home football team," Sunak said.

"My constituency in England is in Yorkshire which is probably the most cricket-mad part of the UK. I have been fortunate with that. There is cricket in every part of my life. One of my favourite players growing up was Rahul Dravid. I tried copying his brilliant technique. But Joe Root is currently the best English batsman and he has scored the most runs and he is a Yorkshire cricketer," he added.

Topics mentioned in this article

Jasprit Bumrah James Anderson Cricket