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Star pacer Jasprit Bumrah further established himself as one of the premium Indian seamers in red-ball cricket after becoming just the third quick to take 50-plus Test wickets in a calendar year.
During the second Test in Adelaide against Australia, Bumrah forced an edge off Usman Khawaja to claim his 50th scalp in 2024. Before the 30-year-old, only former captain Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan could feature in this exclusive club. Kapil Dev is the only Indian pacer to achieve the feat of taking 50-plus wickets in a calendar year twice. He became the first Indian seamer to do so in 1979, with 74 scalps to his name. He replicated his stunning form in 1983 with a whopping 75 wickets. In 2002, Zaheer entered the club after bagging 51 wickets in the year. 22 years later, Bumrah entered the club after Zaheer to feature in the exclusive list. Bumrah's current Test average of 15.14 is the best among the 17 instances Indian bowlers who have picked 50-plus wickets in a calendar year. Along with Bumrah, young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy also entered the record book following his swashbuckling performances in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Nitish has smoked six sixes across his three innings in this series. Five of those maximums have come against fast bowlers, the most by any Indian in Tests in Australia. Zaheer, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant have managed to hit three each. However, despite the individual brilliance of the duo, India have found themselves in a tough spot at the end of the opening day of the second Test. In front of Mitchell Starc's blitz, India's batters looked out of their depth. After the promising-looking 69-run partnership between Shubman Gill and KL Rahul ended, India lost wickets in a cluster. From 69/1, India were reduced to 87/5 in a span of eight overs. Nitish tried to light up Adeladie with his 42-run blitzkrieg, but it could only propel India to 180. In reply, Australia found comfort in the unbeaten 62-run stand between Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne. At the end of the day, Australia stood in a commanding position with 86/1 on the board, trailing by 94 runs. (ANI)
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