Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Adulation for Jasprit Bumrah in Australia feels Un-Australian-OxBig News Network

Fighting fire with fire! That’s how the atmosphere is when India and Australia lock horns, especially in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. There’s no love lost. More than actual action on the field, it’s the mind games that hog the limelight. As if half of the battle is fought outside the ground, inside the mind. Verbal volleys don’t raise eyebrows anymore. However, 2024 has been a tad different.

This time around, Australia haven’t gone hard at Indian cricketers, especially Jasprit Bumrah, who has troubled quality batters all around the world. In fact, the Australians have shown humility and admitted that the pacer can be a tough nut to crack. That Bumrah is also the No.1 ranked bowler in Tests shows how dominating he has been in the purest format.

Bumrah was expected to give the Australian batters nightmares. He did his reputation no harm after bagging the Player of the Match award in the Perth Test. In fact, it was his devastating five-wicket haul that dragged India back into the contest after they were bowled out for 150 in the first innings. Bumrah was unplayable, as it seemed to a layman watching on TV, let alone batters.

‘One of the greatest’

Travis Head has thoughts for Bumrah on similar lines. In the second innings at the Optus Stadium when Head was looking good for a well-made century, Bumrah shaped one away from him and found his outside edge. Given the form Head was in, it needed something special to pin Head down, and Bumrah had that special thing up his sleeves.

Head praised Bumrah to the extent that he called him amongst the ‘greatest’ pacers to have graced the game. Head, who has two hundreds against India in ICC Finals, stayed humble and accepted that facing an in-form Bumrah is as challenging as it could ever get.

“Jasprit will go down as probably one of the greatest fast bowlers to play the game. I think we’re finding that at the moment — how challenging he can be, and it’s nice to play against that,” Head said during a press conference.

“It’s going to be nice to go back and look at your career and go tell the grandkids that you faced him. So not a bad series of playing with him. Hopefully I’ll face a few more times, but he is as being challenging,” Head added.

‘An awkward action’

Steve Smith, one of the very best, said that facing Bumrah with an awkward run-up and action can give batters headaches, especially early in their knocks. In the first innings of the Perth Test, Smith shuffled across on the off-stump only to be dismissed LBW by Bumrah for a golden duck.

“From the start of his run-up, it’s just all awkward. The way he runs in is different to pretty much anyone else, then the last bit of his action is different. I’ve faced him a reasonable amount now, and each time you face him it takes a few balls just to get the rhythm of it in a way,” Smith told Sydney Morning Herald.

“He releases the ball closer to you than any other bowler, just the way he does it. So maybe it rushes you a bit more than you think, and it’s just an awkward action,” Smith added.

‘He is a nightmare’

Ricky Ponting also side that it’s not easy facing Bumrah by any stretch of the imagination. The legendary batter had said that showing an immense level of consistency separates Bumrah from the rest. Michael Clarke, who led Australia to glory in the 2015 World Cup, also heaped praise on the Indian speedster, calling him a ‘freak’.

“When you talk to opposition batsmen about him, it’s always, ‘No, he’s a nightmare! You never know what’s going to happen. One’s going to swing, one’s going to seam; he’s going to bowl an in-swinger; he’s going to bowl an out-swinger. And the consistency is there,” Ponting had told ICC Review back in August.

“Bumrah, what can you say! He is a freak. His skill in these conditions, so conducive to fast bowling, is unbelievable!” Clarke said.

‘Very un-Australian’

Harsha Bhogle, one of India’s most reputed sports broadcasters, said that Australians haven’t been the typical and ruthless Australia the world knows about. He said that Bumrah might have got into their batters’ nerves, which could lead to their downfall in the remainder of the series as well.

“I sense a little bit of awe. Head said ‘when I retire I can tell my grandkids that I had encounters against Bumrah’. Did you hear Allan Border, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Steve Waugh say that? You respected the opposition, but did not say, ‘Oh my god, what am I going to do to Bumrah? Oh, we need to figure out strategies against Bumrah’,” Bhogle said on his YouTube channel.

“And suddenly, Australia is not sounding like Australia. And that is what interests me and that is what I would like to see if that is in their minds when they come out to bat. Yes, they have issues, but I would like to know what is in their heads. Are they spooked in their heads? That would be very very un-Australian,” Bhogle added.

It goes without saying that Bumrah is going to trouble more Aussie batters in the series. From being on top of the table in the WTC 2023-25, Australia are currently placed at third and are under the cosh. If the Aussies are to reclaim their top spot, Pat Cummins and Co. have to find a way to decode Bumrah and neutralise him.

Bumrah, meanwhile, is 12 wickets short of breaking Kapil Dev’s record for most Test wickets by an Indian on Australian soil. Bumrah is expected to breathe fire in Adelaide as well as India look to take a 2-0 lead and most importantly, keep their hopes alive of advancing to the World Test Championship final.

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