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A century like no other for Jasprit Bumrah at the Oval

By Mumbai Indians

Impeccable bowling. Perfect yorkers. A superb century. Jasprit Bumrah has been nothing short of sensational in the final innings of the fourth Test between India and England at London’s Oval stadium.

Setting up a batter by straightening the in-anglers, then bowling an in-swinger to catch England’s first innings hero, Ollie Pope, by surprise, and eventually knocking him over - Bumrah sure knew how to reach his 100th Test wicket in style!

Bumrah did talk about how much he loves knocking over batters’ stumps. Are we really surprised that his first wicket was a clean bowled, and so was his hundredth? Of course not! At the end of the Oval Test, Bumrah has 101 wickets in 24 Tests.

Fastest Indian to 100 Test wickets

With his wicket of Ollie Pope, Bumrah became the fastest to reach 100 Test wickets for an Indian. He achieved this feat in 24 games, one less than the legendary Kapil Dev.

His bowling in this game has been on point. While Ollie Pope’s set up was exceptional in strategy, the all-important wicket of Jonny Bairstow saw one of the most perfect executions of the Yorker to dismiss him for a duck. The four wickets he claimed in this match were, in context of the game, crucial and game changing in both the innings.

Only 4 wickets in India

Jasprit Bumrah has only played three matches in India, which has given him four wickets. His haul in the SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries, along with West Indies, have accounted for the rest of the 97 wickets he has earned.

These numbers only show the absolute confidence with which Bumrah takes on the opponents in their own hunting grounds. It is this very attitude to not settle, push the limits and work hard that has earned him a century of Test wickets in record time.

Memorable performances

If the best of Bumrah had to be made into a film, it would feature two games of his in the trailer - The third Test in the 2018 India tour of Australia in Melbourne and the second Test against West Indies in September 2019, which included a splendid hat-trick from the Yorker King.

The Melbourne Test featured Bumrah’s best bowling display in a match - a commanding 9/86 across two innings. His match-winning efforts helped India seal a 137-run victory against the hosts.

In the West Indies Test at Kingston, Bumrah registered his best figures in a Test innings of 6/27. It also included a hat-trick that accounted for the wickets of Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks and  Roston Chase. His efforts helped massively in a 257-run win that India registered in that Test.

And just like that, Jasprit Bumrah became the third Indian to have a Test hat-trick to their name.

When chances of winning look bleak, Bumrah has time and again come out as the strongest. A captain’s faith, a team’s responsibility, and a nation’s ray of hope - this boy with a never-seen-before bowling action came and made a space for himself in the cricket world like no other.

The 100 Test wickets mark is just another milestone that Bumrah has checked off enroute to many more that will come as he progresses. We cannot wait to see him go BOOM BOOM again!