Sydney, Jan 5: Despite India ending up losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 1-3, ICC Hall of Famer Ricky Ponting believes that pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s exploits are not only the best he’s seen of a visiting bowler in Australia but probably also the best fast-bowling display of all time.
The 31-year-old Indian quick was adjudged the Player of the Series for his relentless bowling which seriously troubled the Aussie batters. Bumrah finished as the leading wicket-taker in the five-Test series with an incredible tally of 32 scalps.
During his iconic run, Bumrah also overtook former India captain Kapil Dev to hold the record for most Test wickets by an Indian in Australia – 64 wickets at 17.15 compared to Kapil’s 51 at 24.58.
“No doubt, it’s probably the best series of fast bowling I’ve ever seen. Yes, they had good conditions, the fast bowlers, for most of this series. But when you watched him (Bumrah) bowl compared to anyone else in the series, he made batting look so much harder,” ICC quoted Ponting as saying on Sunday.“There’s a lot of quality batting in that Australian top-order as well but he made all of them at different times look silly,” he added.
Bumrah also surpassed Bishen Singh Bedi’s tally of 31 scalps to become India’s highest wicket-taker in a Test series in Australia. However, he didn’t bowl in Australia’s second innings after leaving the field on Day 2 to undergo scans for back spasms.“A little frustrating but sometimes you have to respect your body, and you can’t fight your body. Sometimes you have to accept. Would have loved to bowl on the spiciest wicket of the series. Just had a little discomfort after the first innings,” said Bumrah in the post-match presentation ceremony. (IANS)
