Jasprit Bumrah was back to his best on the first day of the two-match Test series between South Africa and India at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on Friday (November 14) with a stunning spell of 5-27 as Temba Bavuma’s decision to bat first after winning the toss backfired with the World Test Champions bowled out for jsut 159. Shubman Gill’s decision to give Bumrah an extended first spell proved a masterstroke as the star pacer produced the wicket of South African openers Ryan Rickleton and Aiden Markram in his sixth and seventh over of the morning.
Later, he came back to dismiss Tony de Zorzi in the second session before completing his five-for with the wickets of Simon Harmar and Keshav Maharaj.
Jasprit Bumrah Creates History
This marked the fourth instance of Bumrah taking a four-wicket haul against South Africa, which is the second-most in history by a pacer, alongside James Anderson, Pat Cummins, and George Lohmann. Infact, the only player to do better than Bumrah against the Proteas was Sydney Barnes (12 five-wicket hauls) more than a century ago from 1912-14.
Infact, Burmah now has four-wicket hauls against each of Australia, England, and South Africa and is the first player to do so. Infact, no one even had three against all teams with the West Indies pair of Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose next in the list.
Sir Richard Hadlee (who never played vs SA) and England’s Sydney Barnes are the only other players with four five-wicket hauls against at least two of the three teams.
Four Or More Five-Wicket Hauls vs Australia, England, South Africa (Pacers)
| Player | Five-Wicket Hauls vs Australia | Five-Wicket Hauls vs England | Five Wicket-Haul vs South Africa |
| Sydney Barnes (England) | 12 | Not Eligible | 12 |
| Sir Richard Hadlee | 14 | Never Played | 8 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Curtly Ambrose | 8 | 8 | 2 |
| Courtney Walsh | 4 | 5 | 2 |
Infact, Bumrah now has the joint-fourth most five-wicket hauls by a pacer against Australia, England, and South Africa and has equalled West Indies cricket legend Malcom Marshall while going past Glenn Mcgrath. Among players not consisting of players from these three countries, only Hadlee and Ambrose are ahead of Bumrah now.
Most Five-Wicket Hauls vs Australia, England, South Africa (Pacers)
| Player | Five-For vs AES |
| Sydney Barnes (England) | 24 |
| Richard Hadlee (New Zealand) | 22 |
| Curtly Ambrose (West Indies) | 18 |
| Jasprit Bumrah (India) | 13 |
| Malcom Marshall (West Indies) | 13 |
| Glenn McGrath (Australia) | 12 |
Among players from Asia, the record before Bumrah belonged to ex-Indian cricket team captain Kapil Dev, who had taken 11 five-wicket hauls in his career against the three cricketing giants. Overall, it is the 16th five-wicket haul by Bumrah, which is now the fifth most by an Indian cricketer, level with BS Chandrashekhar. Among pacers, only Kapil (23) is ahead of him, with Zaheer Khan (11) a distant third.
This was also Bumrah’s 13th five-wicket haul in the World Test Championship (WTC), which has extended his lead over Ravichandran Ashwin (11) in the elite list. Among pacers, Pat Cummins (10) is second behind Bumrah.