CHENNAI: It was Jasprit Bumrah, who stood between Australia and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, till the second day of the fifth Test a few months ago. Captaining in absence of the regular skipper Rohit Sharma, the premier Indian pacer claimed eight wickets including a five-for in the first innings of the opening Test in Perth to hand the team a winning start.
Back spasm, however, prevented him from bowling further in the final Test in Sydney as the hosts completed a 3-1 win to finally lay their hands over the trophy after more than nine years. It will not be exaggeration to say that the Gujarat pacer has been single-handedly shouldering the bowling responsibility for the country irrespective of the formats despite being hampered in injuries over the years. Given his unorthodox bowling action and importance to the Indian team, the team management has decided to manage his workload and it is because of this the bowler is expected to play only three Tests in the ongoing five-Test series in England.
His mere presence not only gives immense confidence to his teammates but also makes the opposition wary given his knack to turn the match on its head with his single spell. Pat Cummins and Co experienced it first hand and now it's the turn of the English batters to witness the same magic of the World No 1 Test bowler.
With the visitors posting 471 in their first innings of the inaugural Test in Leeds, the onus was on the 31-year-old speedster to make sure England batters do not have it easy. He didn't disappoint as he had opener Zak Crawley off the last ball of the first over to give India a start they were longing for on Day 2. Bumrah went on to pick two more wickets as England ended the day at 209/3 thanks to an unbeaten century by Ollie Pope.
Despite the initial hiccups, England batters, especially Pope and Harry Brook, made sure they did not fall too short in their reply. What made it easy for them was some mediocre performance from other Indian bowlers. Pacer Prasidh Krishna might have picked up three wickets but he gave away runs at 6.40 runs per over. Similarly, Mohammed Siraj went for 4.51 runs per over even as he claimed two wickets.
The not-so-impressive show by his fellow pacers ultimately put the burden on Bumrah to prevent English batters from running away with the game. As he has been doing for years now, Bumrah claimed two more wickets on Day Three as India took a slender six runs lead.
Bumrah playing a lone warrior has become a recurring theme for India more often than not and his exploits when compared to fellow bowlers highlights overdependence of the team on him. Since the first BGT match in Australia, Bumrah has been head and shoulders above the rest of the Indian bowlers. In those five matches and the first innings of the ongoing Test, Bumrah's bowling average stands at 13.54 while none of his fellow bowlers has an average below 25.
Mohammed Siraj in that period has an average of 33.86 while Prasidh Krishna averaged 26.11. Average of Harshit Rana and now retired R Ashwin is 50.75 and 53 respectively while Akash Deep's figure is 54. Ravindra Jadeja, meanwhile, averages 71.50 highlighting his plight in the longest format.
Interestingly, as many as three catches were dropped off Bumrah's bowling while a no ball bowled by him cost him yet another wicket in the last 24 hours. Despite that the ever-reliable Bumrah completed yet another five-for, his 12th overseas, as he drew level with the legendary Kapil Dev to take the joint-most five wicket hauls away from home. What makes the feat more astonishing is the fact that Bumrah did it only in 34 Tests while the former Indian captain took 66 matches to reach there.
Like Down Under, England batters have to deal with Bumrah cautiously through the course of the series as the latter has been a thorn in their flesh every time he has the red cherry in his hand.
