IND Vs AUS: Jasprit Bumrah Eyes Multiple Bowling Records In Boxing Day Test – News18

Last Updated:December 22, 2024, 07:16 IST

Bumrah, who has dismissed 21 Aussie batters in three Tests played so far, will lead India’s bowling attack in the Boxing Day Test, which is set to take place at MCG.

Jasprit Bumrah will lead India’s pace attack in the fourth Test against Australia, which is set to start on Thursday, December 26. The Boxing Day Test between the two top-ranked teams in the ICC Test rankings is scheduled to take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The world No. 1 Test bowler has been in red-hot form in the ongoing series, and in the three matches played so far, he has dismissed 21 batters. In the first innings of the first Test, which was played at Optus Stadium in Perth from November 22 to 25, Bumrah got rid of five Aussie batters. In the next four innings, he has picked up 3, 4, 6, and 3 wickets, respectively.

Bumrah, who has lived up to the expectations in the 2024-25 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, will be eager to maintain his performance in the next two matches as well.

During the fourth Test, Bumrah will have a chance to break multiple bowling records. If the Indian superstar, who has picked up 62 wickets in 12 Tests played so far this year, manages to take six wickets in Melbourne, then he will break former spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s record of taking the most wickets for India in a single edition of the World Test Championship.

Most wickets in one edition of WTC for India

Ashwin, who announced his retirement from international cricket after the conclusion of the third India-Australia Test in Brisbane on December 18, got rid of 71 batters in 14 matches played during the 2019-21 edition of WTC. Bumrah, who is India’s second-leading wicket-taker in WTC, has 66 wickets to his name in WTC 2023-25.

Bumrah has dismissed 145 batters in 33 WTC matches played so far, and five more wickets will help him become the fifth bowler after Ashwin (195), Nathan Lyon (190), Pat Cummins (189), and Mitchell Starc (161) to take 150 wickets in the WTC.

Most wickets in WTC

Since making his Test debut against South Africa in Cape Town on January 5, 2018, Bumrah has picked up 194 wickets in 43 matches for India. If he manages to take six wickets in the fourth Test against Australia, then he will become the fastest Indian fast bowler to take 200 wickets in Test cricket.

As of now, the record is in the name of Kapil Dev, who reached the 200-wicket milestone in his 50th red-ball match for India.

Fastest to 200 Test wickets for India

• Ravichandran Ashwin – 37 Tests
• Ravindra Jadeja – 44 Tests
• Harbhajan Singh – 46 Tests
• Anil Kumble – 47 Tests
• Bhagwath Chandrasekhar – 48 Tests
• Kapil Dev – 50 Tests

The Ahmedabad-born cricketer will also have a chance to break the all-time record of taking the most wickets for India in a bilateral Test series. Bumrah, who has dismissed 21 batters so far in the ongoing series against Australia, needs 15 more wickets to go past Bhagwath Chandrasekhar’s tally. During the five-match Test series played between India and England in 1972-73, Chandrasekhar dismissed 35 batters.

Most wickets in a bilateral Test series for India

The record of dismissing most batters in a Test series by an Indian pacer is in the name of Kapil, who got rid of 31 Pakistani batters during the 1979-80 series.

Most wickets in a India-Australia series

The overall record of taking most wickets in a Test series between India and Australia is held by Harbhajan Singh, who got rid of 32 Aussie batters during the 2001 series played in India, and Bumrah is 12 wickets away from breaking that record.