Unarguably one of the greatest pace bowlers of all time, India superstar Jasprit Bumrah soared to an all-new high in his cricketing career, as he went past the 200-wicket milestone in Test cricket. Bumrah did so as he removed Australia’s Travis Head on Day 4 of the fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. Bumrah, who was already the highest wicket-taker in the series, went past some all-time greats like Beats Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, and Curtly Ambrose to reach the 200-scalp milestone. Of all the bowlers who have 200 wickets or more in Test cricket, Bumrah holds the best average.
Bumrah, who went on to take the 201st and 202nd wicket shortly too, holds the average of 19.5 in Test cricket which puts him ahead of Malcolm Marshall (20.9), Joel Garner (21.0), and Curtly Ambrose (21.0).
In fact, Bumrah is the first bowler in the history of the game to have claimed 200 wickets in Tests while maintaining an average of under 20.
200 Test wickets for Jasprit Bumrah
No one in the history of Test cricket has reached the milestone with a better average than Bumrah’s 19.56! pic.twitter.com/73RXIX3qQC
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) December 29, 2024
Burmrah achieved multiple milestones as completed 200 wickets in the longest format of the game. As the pacer dismissed Travis Head (1) for his 200th victim in the post-lunch session, he joined Jadeja as the second-fastest Indian to have bagged 200 wickets in Tests.
Both Bumrah and Jadeja achieved the feat in their 44th Test, and overall he is 12th Indian bowler in the format to complete the milestone.
The recently retired Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the quickest among Indians to have taken 200 wickets, a feat that he achieved in his 37th Test.
Ashwin is ranked third in the overall list of bowlers who were fastest to 200 Test wickets, behind two leg-spinners — Pakistan’s Yasir Shah (33 Tests) and Australia’s Clarrie Grimmett (36 Tests).
The dismissal of Head followed by that of Mitchell Marsh’s (0), caught behind the wicket, as Bumrah took his wickets tally in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to 28.
He had earlier dismissed opener Sam Konstas (8) for his first wicket in Australia’s second innings.
With PTI Inputs
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