Jasprit Bumrah’s fifer at Headingley drew widespread praise, with English cricket experts hailing him as one of the greatest. His milestone of 150 Test wickets in SENA nations reignited debates over his legacy in cricketing history.
Team India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was at his best in the first innings of the ongoing first Test of the five-match series against England at Headingley in Leeds.
Bumrah picked five wickets and registered figures of 5/83 at an economy rate of 3.40 in 24.4 overs. On Day 2, the 31-year-old scalped three wickets of Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, and Joe Root before taking two more wickets of Chris Woakes and Josh Tongue to record his 14th five-wicket haul in his already illustrious Test cricket, which began in 2018.
Jasprit Bumrah’s fifer prevented England from surpassing India’s first innings total of 471 as the hosts were bundled out for 465. The right-arm pacer’s performance in the first innings earned widespread acclaim, with the English media reserving ultimate praise for him.
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Bumrah gets ‘GOAT’ tag after Headingley fifer
Jasprit Bumrah has been hailed as ‘GOAT’ by English cricket pundits and former cricketers following his masterclass bowling performance in Headingley, where he was the only specialist pacer to have conceded 100 or above in his spell. Former England pacer Steven Finn declared Bumrah as ‘the most complete fast bowler of all time’, while highlighting his impact on a match.
“It is getting harder and harder to reject the claim that India’s Jasprit Bumrah is the most complete fast bowler of all time,” Finn wrote in his BBC column
“The impact he has on a match every time he bowls is remarkable and he has been a cut above anything else we have seen in the first Test at Headingley. Bumrah took 5-83 in England’s first innings, along with having three catches dropped and Harry Brook caught off a no-ball.
“Whenever Bumrah gets the ball in his hand, it is box-office viewing. It feels as though something is happening every ball. He makes the bowlers at the other end look as though they are playing a different sport,” he added.
With his five-wicket haul, Jasprit Bumrah became the first Asian bowler and the fourth overall, after Shane Warne, Courtney Walsh, and Curtley Ambrose, to pick 150 Test wickets in SENA countries.
Also, the 31-year-old is the first Indian bowler to take 10 five-wicket hauls in the SENA nations. Bumrah’s Test tally in SENA nations stands at 150 wickets, including 10 fifers, at an average of 20.26 and an economy rate of 2.76 in 31 matches.
Two biographies on Jasprit Bumrah’s career
Veteran sports journalist Scyld Berry highlighted the unparalleled brilliance of Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling in red-ball and white-ball cricket, suggesting that his remarkable career deserves two separate volumes of his biography, one each for his dominance in the two formats.
“When Jasprit Bumrah's career is written up, it will have to be in two volumes with two separate titles. The first could be called: "The definitive biography of the finest white-ball fast bowler that ever drew breath". Berry wrote in his Telegraph UK column.
“The second volume, because the game has evolved with all respect to Fred, would have to be titled: "The definitive biography of the finest red-ball fast bowler that ever drew breath," he added.
Jasprit Bumrah is by far the best bowler in Test cricket as he is the only one to have a bowling average of below 20 (19.33) among 86 bowlers who have picked up more than 200 wickets in their red-ball careers.
The likes of Shane Warne, Muthiah Muralitharan, Zaheer Khan, Malcolm Marshal, Anil Kumble, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, and James Anderson all have higher bowling averages, making Bumrah’s consistency and effectiveness in Test cricket truly stand apart in the modern era.
Bumrah a one-man show in the match
English cricket journalist Simon Wilde highlighted the level of difference in bowling Jasprit Bumrah, who conceded 83 in 25 25-over spell, and his fellow Indian pacers, including Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, and Shardul Thakur, who together gave away 288 runs while taking the remaining five wickets in 53 overs.
“There were two games here: one when Bumrah was bowling, one when he wasn't." Wilde wrote in his Times Sport column.
Jasprit Bumrah has scalped 210 wickets in 46 matches for Team India in Tests, out of which 150 — almost 725 — have come in SENA countries, highlighting his dominance in overseas conditions.
