"Perhaps Jasprit Bumrah has no weaknesses," says former India batsman and current cricket commentator Sanjay Manjrekar. He is such a good bowler. So he has a lot of importance for the Indian team. Not only Manjrekar, India's veteran players are now spending time praising him.

However, India was defeated by Australia by a huge margin in the fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. With this loss, India has also fallen behind in the five-match series. But no one is seeing any weakness in Bumrah's performance. 

especially this fourth test was very exciting. On the fourth day of the Test, Bumrah bowled so much brilliantly that the Australian middle order was in shambles. At one point, it also made an Indian victory possible. But the way Bumrah performed as a bowler, the batsmen could not do the same for India, with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli remaining very flat.

Bumrah took nine wickets in Melbourne, four in the first innings and five in the second. Manjrekar adds, 'Bumrah is a gift to Indian cricket, whenever there is any expectation from him, Bumrah fulfills it. Be it from Test to ODI or T-20 cricket, Bumrah is there in all of them. Right now, the reason why he is being talked about a lot is that he took his 200th Test wicket during the same match in Melbourne.

And, based on this data, it can be said that such a bowler is rarely seen. In the long history of Test cricket, Bumrah is the first bowler to take 200 wickets, that too at 19.5. on average. What this means is that he will take one wicket after conceding 20 runs on average. There are three other bowlers who have performed as well as him, especially some distance away from him. Coincidentally, all three bowlers are from West Indies. That includes Malcolm Marshall, Joey Garner and Kurtley Ambrose. 

Marshall took two hundred wickets at an average of 20.94. Garner averaged 20.97 and Ambrose averaged 20.99 for as many wickets. All three bowlers are listed among the greatest players in world cricket. They are the players of the time when West Indies' monopolistic rule was going on in world cricket. Among them, Ambrose was almost the last generation player. After that, now Bumrah has started to be compared with those players. 

Wasim Akram is also listed among the greatest players in world cricket. He used to make waves in the 90s with the help of his left-arm bowling. Today, Bumrah has started to be compared with that same Akram. Veteran Australian player Justin Langer says, 'Bumrah is the right-handed version of Akram. The way Akram used to play in his time, Bumrah is playing like that now.'

Moreover, whatever he believes, Bumrah is the type of bowler who gives trouble to Australian batsmen even in their dreams. So yes, Bumrah has easily become the bowler to take 200 wickets by playing the least number of Tests for India. Meanwhile, the International Cricket Council (ICC) released the list of the best players of the year 2024 only on Monday. Bumrah is also involved in that. Along with him, England's Harry Brooks, Joe Root and Australia's Travis Head are also in the running.

One of those players will win the 'Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy'. Where there are Brooks, Root and head batsmen, Bumrah is the only bowler. Behind his inclusion in this list is his excellent performance in Test cricket, along with his equally high bowling in the T-20 World Cup held last June. He took 15 wickets in that tournament, that too at an incredible average of 8.24. Therefore, he was also declared the best player of the tournament.

It is because of his performance that India became the champion of that competition. Talking about Test cricket, he took 71 wickets in 2024, in 13 Tests, that too at an average of 14.92. Before that, he was out of the field for a long time due to injury. In that sense too, his return to the Indian team was excellent. The question then becomes, what is it about Bumrah that makes him deadly, let alone different from others?