IND vs ENG: Bumrah becomes fastest Indian pacer to reach 150 Test wickets

Bumrah is only behind Waqar Younis and ahead of Imran Khan and Shoaib Akhtar when it comes to minimum matches taken by fast bowlers from Asia to reach 150 Test wickets

Jasprit Bumrah became the fastest Indian pacer to reach 150 Test wickets after he castled Ben Stokes on the second day of the second Test against England at Visakhapatnam (Vizag) on Saturday, February 03. He reached the milestone in only his 34th Test, which is better than any other Indian pacer and only second behind Pakistan’s Qaqar Younis when it comes to pacers from Asia.

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Fastest Indians to 150 Test wickets 

Player	Opposition	Ground	Match Date	Debut	Mat
R Ashwin	v South Africa	Mohali	5 Nov 2015	6 Nov 2011	29
RA Jadeja	v Sri Lanka	Colombo (SSC)	3 Aug 2017	13 Dec 2012	32
EAS Prasanna	v West Indies	Chennai	11 Jan 1975	10 Jan 1962	34
A Kumble	v West Indies	Kingston	6 Mar 1997	9 Aug 1990	34
JJ Bumrah	v England	Visakhapatnam	2 Feb 2024	5 Jan 2018	34

Bumrah got a six-wicket haul in this match. It was only his second five-wicket in Indian conditions, where he had played only five matches before this one. Amidst talk of trail by spin, it was the pacer that did the damage. 

In The League of Legends

This has been such a terrific spell that Bumrah became the first pacer since Kapil Dev in 1983 to take the wickets of opposition batters number three, four, five and six in the batting order. Kapil Dev had picked those batters during his spell of 9/83 against West Indies in Ahmedabad in 1983.

Bumrah’s Test average of 20.28 is only second to Sydney Barnes in the history of Test cricket when it comes to bowlers with at least 150 wickets in the red-balls format. His strike rate of 44.75 is also the fifth best among bowlers with more than 150 wickets to their name. That list features players such as Waqar Younis, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn and Barnes alongside the 30-year-old Indian pacer. 

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Players with Best Bowling Average in Tests with at least 150 Wickets

Player	Span	Matches	Wickets	BBI	Average	ER	SR
SF Barnes (ENG)	1901-1914	27	189	9/103	16.43	2.36	41.65
JJ Bumrah (IND)	2018-2024	34*	152	6/27	20.28	2.72	44.75
AK Davidson (AUS)	1953-1963	44	186	7/93	20.53	1.97	62.29
MD Marshall (WI)	1978-1991	81	376	7/22	20.94	2.68	46.76
J Garner (WI)	1977-1987	58	259	6/56	20.97	2.47	50.84

Best bowling figures in India

Bumrah who removed Joe Root to pick his first wicket with the reverse-swinging ball, went on to register his best bowling figures on home soil. While Root was caught in the slip on an away swinger, Bumrajh castled the stumps behind last match’s centurion Ollie Pope to get his second. 

Jonny Bairstow was the next to go resulting in another out-swinger and another English batter caught in the slip. 

Ben Stokes was left fuming and utterly in disbelief as Bumrah came from round the wicket and the ball kept lower than the English captain’s expectations and he was bowled. Toma Hartley caught at slip and James Anderson trapped leg before wicket completing the six-wicket haul for Bumrah. This was Bumrah’s best bowling figures in India bettering his 5/24 spell against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru in 2022. 

In his short career of 34 matches, the Gujarat-born has already picked 10 five-wicket hauls. His best figures of 6/27 came against West Indies in 2019 at Sabina Park in Jamaica. 

Bumrah’s performance in various countries

Played In	Mat	Wickets	5W	BBI	Avg	S/R	E/R
Australia	7	32	1	6/33	21.25	51.53	2.47
England and Wales	9	37	2	5/64	26.27	57.89	2.72
India	6	26	2	6/45	12.8	28.91	2.65
New Zealand	2	6	0	3/62	31.67	61.67	3.08
South Africa	8	38	3	6/61	20.76	41.92	2.97
West Indies	2	13	2	6/27	9.23	22.69	2.44