BGT 2024-25: Bumrah Becomes Third Indian Fast Bowler to Achieve 50 Test Wickets in a Calendar Year
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Adelaide, Dec 6 (NationPress) India's Jasprit Bumrah celebrated his 31st birthday with an impressive feat, becoming the first fast bowler to achieve 50 Test wickets in 2024. This significant milestone was reached on the first day of the pink-ball Test against Australia in Adelaide when Bumrah sent opener Usman Khawaja back to the pavilion.
With this accomplishment, Bumrah enters the ranks of the legendary Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan as the only Indian fast bowlers to secure 50 Test wickets in a single calendar year. He reached this milestone in his 11th Test of 2024. Kapil Dev holds the record for the most wickets by an Indian fast bowler in a year, with 75 Test wickets in 1983, followed closely by 74 in 1979. Zaheer Khan ranks third with 51 wickets in 2002.
Bumrah's remarkable achievement follows a fantastic year across all formats, leading the all-format wickets chart for 2024 with 65 dismissals in 19 matches. His contributions have been vital, not only in Tests but also in limited-overs cricket, where he played a key role in India's T20 World Cup victory in June, claiming 15 wickets in eight matches to finish third on the tournament's wicket-takers list.
Bowling with the pink ball under lights, he executed a sharp bouncer at a good length outside the off-stump. Khawaja, unable to resist, attempted to play the ball and edged it to Rohit Sharma at first slip.
Previously, Bumrah led India to victory in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth, where his 8/72 represented the best figures by a visiting fast-bowling captain in Test history.
Bumrah's 50 Test wickets position him among the top bowlers of the year, although he still has a way to go to match Shane Warne's record of 96 wickets in a single calendar year, achieved in 2005.
