India pacer Jasprit Bumrah is on the verge of becoming India’s leading wicket-taker in T20 Internationals, needing just two more to break off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s record.
The 24-year-old has 51 wickets in the shortest format of the game, one less than Ashwin. He will have the opportunity to take the top spot when India play Australia in the second T20I on Wednesday.
While Ashwin took 46 matches to get to 52 T20I wickets, Bumrah has taken 41 games to bag his 51 wickets. The third Indian on the list of the highest wicket-takers in T20Is, which is led by Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi (98 wickets from 97 innings), is leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who has 46 wickets from just 30 matches.
Bumrah showed why he is considered one of the best bowlers in the world during India’s defeat to Australia in the first T20I in Vizag. The right-arm quick returned with figures of 3/16 in four overs, and brought his team tantalisingly close to defending a paltry first-innings total of 126.
The highlight of Bumrah’s performance on Sunday was his fourth and final over, the penultimate over of the Australian innings. The visitors needed 16 runs to win at the start of that over, and Bumrah gave away just two runs and managed to take two wickets.
Although the hosts went on to lose that match, with pacer Umesh Yadav conceding 14 runs in the last over of the match, India captain Virat Kohli was all praise for Bumrah. “He can do wonders with the ball when it is reversing and did exceptionally well to get us in the game,” said the skipper after the match.
On Tuesday, ahead of the deciding T20I in Bengaluru, Aussie fast-bowler Pat Cummins, too, hailed Bumrah during a press conference. “He is obviously a class act. Two of the basics he does really well are that he bowls fast and he bowls accurately. Anyone who does that in world cricket will pose a real challenge for the batsmen. He has got a great slower ball, seems to have a great cricketing brain, executes his skills really well,” Cummins said.