NEW DELHI: India’s Jasprit Bumrah is considered one of cricket’s best fast bowlers because of his “slingshot” delivery and capacity to disturb the best batters in the world.
Overcoming career-threatening back issues, the 31-year-old became India’s top Test wicket-taker in Australia on Wednesday, surpassing the great Kapil Dev.
In the third Test in Brisbane, Bumrah, who has been India’s player of the series thus far, grabbed nine wickets to surpass Dev’s previous record of 51 and reach 53 in Australia.
Before the hosts tied the series in Adelaide, he was the player of the match in India’s 295-run triumph in Perth in the first Test.
With 21 wickets in the series thus far at an almost unbelievable average of 10.90, he is the most prolific bowler on both sides. With 14 dismissals apiece, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc are next in line.
“I think he is definitely India’s greatest fast bowler,” former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said of Bumrah.
“In T20 cricket, one-day cricket and Test match cricket, he’s clearly the best right now.”
Travis Head, who has scored two hundreds and a fifty for Australia in the five-match series, went even farther.
“Jasprit is probably going to go down as one of the greatest fast bowlers to play the game,” said Head.
On a bouncing Perth wicket, Bumrah, who was captaining the first Test in the absence of Rohit Sharma, made life miserable for the Australian batters.
The hosts were dismissed for 104 after he took 5-30 from 18 overs. In the second innings, he added 3-42 to help India win by 295 runs.
He can bowl yorkers whenever he wants and can release the ball late thanks to his unconventional front-on motion.
Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood was astounded by Bumrah’s unique approach, which he developed as a child while practicing in a little parking lot close to his family’s Ahmedabad flat.
“If you haven’t faced him before, it can really unsettle you,” Hazlewood said.
“He lets the ball go way out in front, so he’s pretty much half a yard quicker than what the actual speed gun says.
“He’s like a slingshot loading up and letting go.”
Bumrah’s match haul in Perth had some pundits questioning the legality of his deliveries, which appear to be bowled with a bent elbow.
Australian great and former India coach Greg Chappell soon jumped to Bumrah’s defence, describing the debate as “nonsense” and deeming Bumrah’s action “unequivocally clean”.
After suffering a severe back injury that prevented him from playing in 2022 and 2023, Bumrah returned to the Indian squad last year.
His contribution to India’s June T20 World Cup victory in Barbados was crucial, as Rohit called his effort a “masterclass” for stopping South Africa from winning the final with 30 runs off the final 30 balls.
His Indian Premier League team, the Mumbai Indians, where he has played for over ten years, is where the seeds of his brilliance were planted.
When the Indians won the first of their five IPL titles in 2013, the pace bowler was recruited to Mumbai by former New Zealand batsman John Wright, who had scouted him from his native Gujarat.
In his first game, Bumrah made an immediate impression by removing Virat Kohli, the standout batter for RCB.
Head, who fell to Bumrah in Perth’s second innings, claimed he enjoyed attempting to unravel the mystery of the mysterious bowler.
“It’s going to be nice to look back at your career and tell the grandkids that you faced him,” he said.