New Delhi:
Only a day after British rock band Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin dedicated a concerted song to famed Indian bowler Jasprit Buhmrah at the concert in Ahmedabad, Chris Martin was awarded the ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year award.
Martin could be heard in tribute to Bumrah saying,
“O Jasprit Bumrah, my beautiful brother, you are the best bowler in the whole of cricket, and we didn’t enjoy watching you destroy England wicket after wicket.”
While England were pummeled by Bumrah’s brilliance, it was South Africa, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia that had the misfortune of being victim to Martin’s blunt praise. Both Loong and Martin used the term “devastating accuracy” during the speech.
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The right arm fast bowler in question, Chris Martin, took 71 wickets at an overwhelming average of 14.92 and a strike rate of 30.16 in 13 matches with 71-0. He was first this year, and enabled England To take a writ of Romanus Atkinson II. In terms of evidence, Gus Atkinson took second place with 52 wickets, beating England in 11 matches.
Bumrah bowled a mere 357 overs across the year in Tests and yet maintained a 2.96 economy rate. This figure puts him far ahead of practicing international cricketers. This sort of simplicity with a wealth of talent puts him in the same club with greats such as Shane Warne, M Muralidaran, Dennis Lillee and Allan Donald who have claimed over 70 wickets in a year.
Virat Kohli was the last Indian to win the award and it appears that the trend will continue because Bumrah only is the fourth Indian bowler to be a part of this notorious club that includes legends like Ravichandran Ashwin, Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev. However, it is worth noting that among over 10 international bowlers, no one has claimed the feat with an average lower than him which sort of makes sense why Gurmar is garnering all the attention.
Upon the arrival of Bumrah into the international circuit, it was evident that he had a rather distinct selling point with his almost invincible bowling style due to the deceptively short run up and clever ball release he achieved.
Having made his mark in domestic cricket, there was persistent fear of a rather unorthodox bowler being decoded internationally as it has perennial been the case with numerous bowlers across the globe.
Regardless, it has been eight years since he made his debut for India and since then he has been consistently troubling batters across the globe. His challenges are persistent and though batters try, most of them are still far from finding a solution to getting out Bumrah. It was actually Australia opener Usman Khawaja who had claimed that when faced against the bowler during the recent Test series Down Under, ‘I was just getting Bumrah-ed’.
In the last year, 32 out of the 71 wickets he claimed have been during the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia. India lost the series 1-3 but Bumrah was awarded the Player of the Series after his stellar performance where he took 32 wickets at an astonishing average of 13.06. He had also broken Kapil Dev’s record for the most Test wickets by an Indian in Australia with a total of 64 at an average of 17.15 in comparison to Kapil’s 51 at 24.58.
Since Bumrah had a back spasm during the last test and was absent from the final innings, his contribution the Indian team was severely lacking as the Sydney pitch had presented some of the greatest bowling opportunities for seamers. After carrying the burden of India’s campaign for most of the series, it was indeed a disappointment to see him sidelined. You can Click Here to see More Cricket Update.
In a recent ICC Review interview, Ponting declared, ‘I have no doubts that he is the best Indian fast bowler.’ Everything is now available across formats. There are plenty of legends who came before him, but very few of them were active in all three formats of the game as much as he has been. He can confidently make the claim, ‘Watch me… i can do it all – in ODIs. In T20Is. In Test cricket.’ He is unquestionably number one.”
Found in the Melbourne Cricket Ground during the Boxing Day Test, he reached his 200th Test wicket milestone. His impressive performance in that match enabled the Indians to give the host nation a run for their money, and it included a five-wicket haul, bringing his nine-wicket total to one hundred. Read More News Like this on Laserbook