Jasprit Bumrah completes 200 Test wickets; joint second fastest Indian to milestone

Potency at the bowling crease yielding wickets and fresh statistical milestones, has been Jasprit Bumrah’s consistent tale. Sunday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, was no exception.

With Bumrah being the prime disruptor of Australia’s batting line-up, it was no surprise that Rohit Sharma kept using his spearhead often in the fourth Test. Despite these recurring spells, the speedster ran in hard and eventually finished with a four for 56. He now has 29 wickets in the current Border-Gavaskar Trophy series while the second-placed Pat Cummins has 17.

Importantly, Bumrah went past the 200-wicket mark in Tests. Travis Head was his 200th victim before Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey emerged as his subsequent prey. To have 202 scalps with a mind-boggling average of 19.52, economy of 2.76 and strike-rate of 42.42, places Bumrah in the realm of fast bowling excellence.

At 31, he has more years ahead. However, whether he can stretch himself thin across all three formats is something that the team-management, selectors and he have to decide. India cannot afford a jaded Bumrah. He is precious.

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