Jasprit Bumrah: The Lone Warrior of IND's Border-Gavaskar Series, Achieves Historic Feat as India's Greatest Test Seamer

Bumrah's exceptional form, skill, and impact have set a new standard for Indian pace bowlers, prompting many to question whether he is the best that India has ever seen in a Test series.

The numbers do indicate that to be the case: across 5 matches, Bumrah took 32 wickets, comfortably leading the charts across both teams. The only other occasion of an Indian seamer taking more than 30 wickets in a single series came all the way back in 1979-80, when Kapil Dev led the charts with 32 scalps against Pakistan in a home series. Dev, however, played six matches on that occasion, while Bumrah only bowled in nine innings.

Bumrah’s average during the series, moreover, was on a planet of its own. At 13.06, only one Indian pacer has taken 20 wickets in one series at a better average, Irfan Pathan across two matches against Zimbabwe in 2005. While that was a commendable effort, Australia is unquestionably a different animal, and for Bumrah to put up numbers such as these against some of the best players in the world, across the rigour of a five-match series, just goes to show how unplayable he was at times in this series.

An all-format, all-phase wicket-taker

For India, it is usually spinners who do the trick by dominating opposition batters, home and away alike. Usually Ravichandran Ashwin played that talismanic role over the decade of India’s dominance and success, but with the off-spinner announcing his retirement, Bumrah stepped into his shoes in remarkable fashion to lead the bowling attack.

With the new ball, or coming on to break a partnership, or asked to make mincemeat of Australia’s lower-middle batting, Bumrah was firing on all cylinders and in all game situations, and consistently throughout the series. Most remarkable was the respect and admiration even opposition fans had for Bumrah, recognising they were witnessing something special in a bowler who could singlehandedly turn the tide of a match with a flurry of wickets in one quick spell.

Indian pacers have enjoyed famous spells and innings in the past in Australia and elsewhere overseas, but to do it again and again in the space of a few weeks, every single time the team needed it, indicated that Bumrah was providing something special.

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