Jasprit Bumrah secured his seventh five-wicket haul and it put him in an elite list of bowlers for his achievements in the SENA Countries.
Jasprit Bumrah displayed his class on day 2 of the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town. Bumrah, who took the wicket of Dean Elgar on day 1, was in fine form even on day 2. The right-arm pacer took the wicket of Aiden Markram but South Africa was boosted by the middle order. But, Bumrah came back and cleaned up Marco Jansen with a brilliant yorker. Jansen and Bumrah were going after each other in the Johannesburg Test. The moment he took the wicket, the stare that Bumrah gave to the batsman went viral on social media.
Bumrah then took the wickets of Keegan Petersen and Lungi Ngidi to finish with 5/42 in 23.3 overs. This was the second time he had taken a five-wicket haul in South Africa, with the first one being in Johannesburg in 2018. However, his seventh five-wicket haul put him in a brilliant league of bowlers who have achieved great success outside of the sub-continent.
All seven of Jasprit Bumrah’s seven five-wicket hauls have come in SENA Countries. He has not played many Tests in India but he is seen as a gun bowler in all other conditions. Bumrah has achieved tremendous success in Australia, South Africa, and England but he struggled in the two Tests against New Zealand in 2020. Here is a breakup of Jasprit Bumrah’s five-wicket hauls in the SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia) countries.
Team | Hauls | Venue | Year |
Australia | 6/33 | Melbourne | 2018 |
South Africa | 5/54, 5/42 | Johannesburg, Cape Town | 2018, 2022 |
England | 5/85, 5/64 | Trent Bridge | 2018, 2021 |
But, Bumrah’s consistency is mind-boggling. If one looks at the average of bowlers in the SENA countries, Bumrah is in fantastic company. If one looks at the minimum cut-off of 50 wickets in the SENA countries, Bumrah’s average is better than Wasim Akram. He has the best average in the SENA countries in the last 20 years. If one looks at the cut-off of under 30, then Bumrah tops the list. Here are the best Asian bowlers who have performed in the SENA countries in the last 30 years.
Read – Jasprit Bumrah nominated for THIS Special ICC Award
Player | Matches | Wickets | Average | Best Haul | 5 wicket haul | 10 wicket haul |
Jasprit Bumrah | 22 | 95 | 23.03 | 6/33 | 5 | 0 |
Wasim Akram | 25 | 118 | 23.93 | 7/119 | 9 | 2 |
Mohammad Asif | 15 | 68 | 25.35 | 6/41 | 5 | 0 |
Muttiah Muralitharan | 22 | 120 | 26.5 | 9/65 | 10 | 5 |
Mushtaq Ahmed | 19 | 84 | 28.1 | 7/56 | 6 | 1 |
Waqar Younis | 30 | 113 | 29.15 | 6/78 | 6 | 1 |
Under the captaincy of Virat Kohli, Bumrah has now gone past 100 wickets in Tests. In 24 Tests under Kohli, Bumrah has taken 102 wickets at an average of 21.23. Thus, Kohli now has four bowlers in his captaincy who have taken 100 wickets or more. Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, and Ishant Sharma have taken 100 or more wickets under Kohli’s captaincy. Shami leads the list with 167 while Ishant has 121. Umesh is slightly ahead of Bumrah with 105. Only Graeme Smith and Clive Lloyd are ahead when it comes to bowlers taking 100 wickets in their captaincy. Smith had seven bowlers taking 100 wickets in his captaincy. Lloyd had five bowlers taking 100 wickets in his tenure.
At stumps on day 3, Pujara and Kohli hold the key for India as they lead by 70 runs. With the pitch still assisting the bowlers, a target in excess of 250 will be very hard to chase for South Africa in the fourth innings.