AUS vs IND: Former cricketer Harbhajan Singh believes that if star quick Jasprit Bumrah had not taken part in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India would have suffered a 5-0 series defeat instead of a 3-1 humiliating by Australia.
In 45 days of riveting cricket, Bumrah was one of the stars who led the fight against the WTC champions and haunted Australian stars across the five matches. Bumrah was leagues apart from the rest of his counterparts and etched his name into history books by shattering one record after another.
He was the mastermind behind India’s record-shattering 295-run victory in the series opener in Perth. Bumrah continued to wreak havoc in the rest of the matches to end the series as the leading wicket-taker.
Bumrah’s efforts were recognized at the end, and he was crowned the Player of the Series for his scintillating performance. Despite India’s series loss, Bumrah garnered praise across the globe, and even Travis Head admitted that it was the best “individual performance” that he had seen since he started playing the format.
Harbhajan praised Bumrah and said that if the “national treasure” wasn’t a part of the team, India would have lost the BGT by 5-0 or 4-0 in favor of Australia. “If Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t in this tour, the series would have ended 5-0. Jassi saved India in Perth. After Adelaide, he saved India in the rest of the matches. If he wasn’t in the series, India would have lost by either 5-0 or 4-0,” Harbhajan Singh said on his YouTube channel.
He ended the five-match BGT series with 32 wickets, making him India’s highest wicket-taker in a Test series against the Baggy Greens on Australian soil. Bumah arrived at his tally at an exceptional average of 12.64, including three five-wicket hauls, with a best of 6/76. In doing so, he surpassed Bishan Singh Bedi’s record of 31 wickets from the 1977–78 tour of Australia.