Bumrah proving bigger threat than Hadlee, Holding in Aus

In India’s last two Test tours of

Australia

, the factor that has remained constant is the threat posed by premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah, which coincides with the fact that India finished those tours with historic series wins. And on his third trip Down Under, Bumrah continues to torment the Aussies and could well again be the decisive figure in the end result.
With 21 wickets in three Tests of the ongoing

Border Gavaskar Trophy

(BGT) at a staggering average of 10.90, Bumrah has crossed the tally of 50 Test wickets in Australia. Not only that, the 31-year-old Indian pacer has the best strike rate among the bowlers in that list.

The list includes legends like Richard Hadlee, Michael Holding,

Curtly Ambrose

, Kapil Dev, Ian Botham and others; but Bumrah’s strike rate of 41.0 is the best.

West Indies legend Ambrose has taken most Test wickets in Australia with his 78 scalps in 14 matches. With his 53 wickets, Bumrah has went past Kapil Dev (51 wickets) among the Indian bowlers.
Take a look at the top-10 list (ordered according to best strike rate):

In fact, Bumrah is enjoying the best of his three tours of Australia in the current outing. His 21 wickets in 2018-19 came in four Tests, while he has taken the same number of wickets in three Tests of this BGT.

Also, two out of Bumrah’s three five-wicket spells in Australia have come on this tour.

In 2020-21, he took 11 wickets in the three-Test series.
Here’s the break-up of Bumrah’s performance on Australia tours (till 3rd Test of 2024-25 tour):

(Stats: Rajesh Kumar)