Jasprit Bumrah has only 155 wickets, only being used advisedly. Currently, there are 15 Indians with more Test wickets. Even among pacers, he is just the seventh-highest wicket-taker. And yet, one is compelled to wonder if he will sign off as India’s greatest red-ball pacer of all time. Crazy, right?
Three of India’s four most prolific Test wicket-takers are spinners – Anil Kumble (619), Ravichandran Ashwin (499) and Harbhajan Singh (417). The odd one out is the peerless Kapil Dev, who signed off in 1994 with 434 Test victims, then the highest in the five-day game. Two other quicks boast upwards of 300 wickets – Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan (both 311). The other leading pacers are Javagal Srinath (236), Mohammed Shami (229) and Umesh Yadav (170).
Bumrah’s Craze In India
Bumrah has picked up another Player of the Match award in his latest Test. Six for 45 in the first innings, hostile and relentless, an unstoppable force of nature that blew England to smithereens with a wicked smile. Three for 46 in the second, three different modes of dismissal – a leg before, a caught and bowled, a clean bowled. Reverse swing.
Comparison Between Jasprit Bumrah And Kapil Dev
- Like Bumrah, Kapil too started as a tearaway pacer before quickly realizing that if he aspired for a long international career, he had better sacrifice pace and add other strings to his bow – unlike now.
- India didn’t possess the depth in fast bowling that allowed them to rotate their pacers.
- Bumrah is fortunate in that regard, but he has also found ways to make his fortune. Forget about the numbers, for a minute.
- For sheer impact, Japreet Bumrah is unmatched. He has transformed mindsets, he has unwittingly encouraged young kids to try to ape his run-up and his actions.
Jasprit Bumrah’s Numbers Staggering
- Jasprit Bumrah’s Test average is 20.19 which, for want of a better word, is ludicrous.
- Of those with at least 150 Test wickets, only one man has a better average, the extraordinary Sydney Barnes, who took 189 wickets in 27 games at 16.43.
- He currently picks up 4.56 wickets per Test, which is a very impressive stat considering India has been playing five specialist bowlers for most of his six-year Test career.
- Extrapolating those figures isn’t ideal because the sport doesn’t operate in such straight lines, but if Bumrah goes on to play 100 Tests and continues to strike at the current rate, he will finish with 456 victims.
That’s unlikely to happen.Jasprit Bumrah is 30, is an all-format player, and has already had a stress fracture of the back. But it’s fun to think of what might be if he gets there. Just as it’s fun to envision him at one end and Kapil at the other, competing with and feeding off each other. What a sight that.