Jasprit Bumrah suffered a back injury during the India-England ODI series in July 2022, which ruled him out of action for a couple of months. He missed the Asia Cup during that period and made a comeback for India in September during the three-match T20I series against Australia at home. He featured in the second and third T20I before being ruled out of action again due to a back injury. He missed the T20 World Cup in Australia due to that, in addition to the 2023 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, IPL 2023, and the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final against Australia at Lord’s. There were a lot of question marks over Bumrah, and many experts and greats of the game felt that the right-arm fast bowler from Ahmedabad is over. He won’t be able to return to the field and have the same kind of impact again. The cricketer, who made his international debut as a 22-year-old in January 2016 against Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground, was heavily trolled on social media platforms by fans, and the trend of ‘Sharam karle Bumrah’ was so common at that time.
But Bumrah remained unfazed by all that and instead focused on recovering completely before making a comeback. And man! What a comeback he has made since his return to competitive cricket in August 2023.
Comeback on August 18, 2023
Bumrah returned to the international scene once again after almost 11 months, and his first assignment was a three-match T20I series in Ireland for which he was appointed as India’s captain as well. Bumrah picked up two wickets each in the first two matches and led India to a 2-0 series win.
He then played for the Rohit Sharma-led side in the Asia Cup, three-match ODI series against Australia, and the ODI World Cup 2023 and finished with 4, 6, and 20 wickets, respectively. He was one of India’s top performers in the men’s 50-over megaevent and played a big role in the team’s unbeaten run to the final. In the summit clash against Australia at Narendra Modi Stadium on November 19, 2023, he picked up two wickets for 43 runs in nine overs but failed to help India lift the title for the third time in history.
Bumrah, who is arguably India’s best fast bowler of all time, made a successful comeback in 2023, but it was just the trailer because what he managed to do in 2024 was beyond imagination.
Unreal numbers
The fast bowler, who only played one Test in 2023, which was also in the last week of the year, played 13 Test matches in 2024 and dismissed 71 batters with an average of 14.92. No bowler ever in the 147-year-old history of Test cricket has managed to take more than 70 Test wickets in a calendar year with an average less than that of Bumrah’s.
He was outstanding for India, not just in India, where he played 8 Tests, but also in South Africa and Australia.
In his first Test of 2024, which was played at Newlands in Cape Town, Bumrah picked up two wickets in the first innings and six in the second to seal India’s win by 7 wickets inside two days. For his brilliant performance with the ball (12 wickets in two Tests), Bumrah won the Player of the Series award in South Africa.
He then played four of five Tests at home against England and finished the series with 19 wickets. He dismissed six batters (2/28 and 4/41) in the series opener, which India lost by 28 runs in Hyderabad, and picked up nine wickets (6/45 and 3/46) in the second match at Visakhapatnam to help India level the series.
No. 1 in all three formats
For his top bowling show in Vizag, Bumrah won Player of the Match award, and the nine-wicket show also helped him achieve No. 1 Test ranking for the first time in his career. By reaching the top of the ICC Test bowler’s ranking, Bumrah created history as he became the first bowler and overall fourth cricketer in the world to achieve the No. 1 position in ICC rankings in all three formats of the game.
20 wickets for MI
After helping India win a home series with a scoreline of 4-1, Bumrah participated in the IPL 2024 for the Mumbai Indians and picked up 20 wickets in 13 matches to finish as the third leading wicket-taker.
His best performance for the Hardik Pandya-led side was in the home match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, where, in his quota of four overs, he managed to take 5 wickets for 21 runs.
But despite Bumrah’s efforts, MI finished at the bottom of the IPL 2024 points table.
