NEW DELHI: India’s pace ace Jasprit Bumrah carved his place in cricketing history on Sunday, becoming the bowler with the best average among those with 200 or more Test wickets. Bumrah also emerged as the fastest Indian pacer to reach the 200-wicket milestone in Test cricket.
The historic feat unfolded on the fourth day of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy‘s fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where Bumrah dismissed Australia’s Travis Head to claim his landmark 200th wicket.
Scorecard: India vs Australia, 4th Test
No one in Test cricket history has reached the milestone with a better average than Bumrah, whose average stands at 19.56, going past former West Indies pacer Joel Garner, who got to the landmark with an average of 20.34.
With this stunning bowling average, Bumrah surpassed the career average of legendary West Indian trio of Malcolm Marshall (376 wickets at 20.94), Garner (259 at 20.97), and Curtley Ambrose (405 at 20.99), making him the sole member of this exclusive group with a sub-20 average. His precision and unmatched consistency reaffirm his status as one of the finest fast bowlers in the annals of cricket.
The 30-year-old pacer reached this milestone in just 8,484 deliveries, setting a record as the fastest Indian to achieve the landmark in terms of balls bowled. Globally, Bumrah ranks fourth in this category, following Waqar Younis, Dale Steyn, and Kagiso Rabada.
Fastest to 200 Test wickets (balls bowled)
- 7725 – Waqar Younis
- 7848 – Dale Steyn
- 8153 – Kagiso Rabada
- 8484 – Jasprit Bumrah
In his 44th Test, Bumrah equaled Ravindra Jadeja’s achievement of reaching 200 wickets, second only to Ravichandran Ashwin, who achieved the feat in 38 matches for India.
Bumrah’s exceptional series continued as he clean-bowled Alex Carey to claim his 202nd Test wicket and his 29th scalp of the ongoing series, making him the most successful Indian pacer in a Test series on Australian soil.
This record-breaking performance cements Bumrah’s legacy as a trailblazer in Indian cricket and sets a benchmark of excellence for future generations of bowlers.
