Jasprit Bumrah Joins Elite List After Sensational Spell Against Australia

After a well-deserved rest, Jasprit Bumrah made a stunning comeback to the Indian team during the first T20I against Australia on Sunday. Despite India scoring just 126 in the stipulated 20 overs, Bumrah’s superb spell helped them make a game out of it. Bumrah finished the game with figures of 3 for just 16 off his four overs.

When Australia needed 16 runs off the final two overs, Bumrah bowled a superb penultimate over. He conceded just two runs while taking the wickets of Peter Handscomb and Nathan Coulter-Nile to give India a great chance to win the game. However, Umesh Yadav could not defend 14 runs in the final over as Australia won the game by 3 wickets.

Bumrah, nonetheless, achieved a major milestone during the game. He became just the second Indian bowler after R Ashwin to the milestone of 50 wickets in Twenty20 internationals. He took his 50th wicket when he dismissed Handscomb in the 19th over.  His 49th wicket was Australia captain Aaron Finch who was trapped lbw for a golden duck off the first ball of Bumrah’s second over. Jasprit Bumrah now has 51 wickets and needs just two more to go past Ashwin and become the most successful Indian bowler in this format.

Ashwin is India’s most successful bowler in T20Is with 52 wickets from 46 games at an average of 22.94. Ashwin, however, is unlikely to add more to his tally in coming days, having fallen down the pecking order in ODIs and T20Is. The next best after Bumrah is his current team-mate Yuzvendra Chahal with 46 wickets in 30 games.

Here is a list showing most wickets for India in T20Is: