Beautiful, fantastic… in the last 15 months no other team has done so well in pace bowling. The Indian team has done so well, I don’t have to say anything, they have done so well… it is unbelievable”
Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev had perfectly summed up the contribution of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami in India’s historic Test series in Australia.
The Indian pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami had destroyed the Australian batting line-up with a lot of fast, swinging and accurate bowling during the 2018/19 Border-Gavaskar series. Bumrah, Shami and Sharma had combined to pick up 48 wickets at an average of 21.6 to play a major role in India’s historic triumph Down Under in 2018-19.
Indian pacers ran rings around the Australian batsmen and capped off a memorable Test series against the Tim Paine-led side. They never really allowed the Australian batsmen to settle down throughout the four-Test series and powered India to a one of a kind 2-1 win.
Bumrah nightmare for Australia
Jasprit Bumrah was India’s wrecker-in-chief as the Indian pacer bagged 21 wickets at an average of 17.00, which also included a five-wicket haul. Nathan Lyon matched the tally but was not able to have the same impact as Bumrah had for India in that series.
Shami and Ishant backed up Bumrah with 16 and 11 wickets respectively as the Indian pacers hunted in packs throughout the course of the four Tests. Ravindra Jadeja (7), R Ashwin (6), Kuldeep Yadav (5) and Umesh Yadav (2) all played crucial supporting roles.ADVERTISEMENT
The Indian bowlers bagged a total of 51 wickets in the four matches with Australia getting bowled out 7 times out of 8 during the series. The Indian seamers bowled with pace and accuracy, with craft and heart. They were threatening and intimidating. They were patient and yet relentless.
Ishant Sharma won’t be there to support Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami with his swing bowling. But more importantly, Australia have the likes of Steve Smith, David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne who were not part of the Australia side last time around.
India skipper Virat Kohli will be hoping that the pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami can again work up some magic like 2018-’19, posing a lot of discomfort for the home batting line-up in the upcoming four-match Test series against Australia that begins from December 17 in Adelaide. ( Indian Today )
