For anyone who ever had a doubt that India’s pacer Jasprit Bumrah isn’t the best bowler in the world, think again. This IND vs AUS series, where he has bagged 30 wickets already, not only he has told the world, that he is indeed the ‘best’, but has also taken him to a different level of stardom — that only batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni enjoy in the country.
Jasprit Bumrah — The Best
Just look at his stats in the series — he is head and shoulders above every other bowler — having bagged 30 wickets in 4 matches, 12 more than the second-placed Pat Cummins at 17. In the 141.2 overs he has bowled, he averages only 12. And with the wicket of Travis Head in the 4th Test at the MCG on Saturday, he became the 4th fastest bowler ever — in terms of balls bowled — to reach 200 wickets.
| Player | Country | Balls Bowled |
|---|---|---|
| Waqar Younis | Pakistan | 7,725 |
| Dale Steyn | South Africa | 7,848 |
| Kagiso Rabada | South Africa | 8,153 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | India | 8,484 |
Bumrah vs Pat Cummins vs Kagiso Rabada
Waqar Younis tops the list as he got to 200 scalps in 7,725 deliveries, followed by South Africa’s Dale Steyn in 7,848 deliveries, Kagiso Rabada in 8,153 and Jasprit Bumrah in 8,484. Okay, let us also settle the debate between Cummins, Rabada and Bumrah too. While the India bowler has 203 wickets in the 44 matches he has played, Cummins had 203 at the same way mark. Rabada too achieved the 200-wicket mark in the 44th Test of his career.
| Player Name | Matches | Innings | Wickets | Average | 5 Wickets | 10 Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kapil Dev | 131 | 227 | 434 | 29.64 | 23 | 2 |
| Zaheer Khan | 92 | 165 | 311 | 32.94 | 11 | 1 |
| Ishant Sharma | 105 | 188 | 311 | 32.40 | 11 | 1 |
| Javagal Srinath | 67 | 121 | 236 | 30.49 | 10 | 1 |
| Mohammed Shami | 64 | 122 | 229 | 27.71 | 6 | 0 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 44 | 85 | 202 | 19.56 | 12 | 0 |
But then what really separates Bumrah from the other two, is his lowest average to 200 wickets. The first in the list is of course, the 31-year-old, at 19.56. West Indian great Joel Garner stands in at second with an average of 20.34, followed by South Africa Shaun Pollock 20.39, and then Waqar — 20.61.
| Wickets | Player | Series |
|---|---|---|
| 29* | Jasprit Bumrah | 2024/25 |
| 25 | Kapil Dev | 1991/92 |
| 21 | Jasprit Bumrah | 2018/19 |
| 19 | Manoj Prabhakar | 1991/92 |
With one more Test to go in the series, at Sydney, Bumrah is far from being done here. He has also broken Kapil Dev’s record of most wickets in a Test series in Australia — of 25 wickets. Not just that, he is only sixth Indian pacer to get to 200 Test wickets, after Kapil, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Javagal Srinath, and Mohammed Shami.
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