Jasprit Bumrah ICC Test Cricketer Of The Year 2024
The ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award for 2024 has helped cement Jasprit Bumrah’s position as one of the best bowlers in cricket history. Bumrah’s performance during the year was not just about numbers. His heroics represented a story of resilience, skill, and adaptability in varying conditions-a salient reminder of his rather-singling stand-out in a time when batsmen often dominated the scene.
In 2024, Bumrah played 13 Test matches in which he took a staggering 71 wickets. The bowler averaged 14.92 throughout the year with a strike rate of 30.16 on this basis-best for any bowler across the period in Test cricket. Bumrah’s overall economy rate during the year was 2.96, which shows he was capable of controlling the run rate while taking wickets. Most remarkably, he was quite consistent in his feats across various conditions, whether in pace-friendly South Africa or Australia or less than friendly tracks in India.
In particular, he was the highest wicket-taker in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, bagging 32 wickets in just five matches at a stunning average of 123.06. His contributions were crucial to India’s absolutely momentous series victory in which he even led one match on his own as captain, contributing to a whopping 295-run victory in Perth.
In the Test match against South Africa that he started in Cape Town on January 4, 2024, Bumrah had six wickets in the second innings before taking 19 wickets in the four Tests against England. He took six wickets (2+4) in the opening Test match played at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, and another nine (6+3) in the Vizag Test succumbed. His brilliant performance with the ball under lights at Visakhapatnam not only earned him the title of Player of the Match but also lifted him to the number one spot in the ICC Test Bowlers rankings.
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Upon the conclusion of the two-match series with Bangladesh, where he took 11 wickets, Bumrah went on to bag three wickets in the first two matches against New Zealand.
He assumed the captaincy after Rohit Sharma was ruled out; in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Bumrah picked up a total of eight wickets. Under his leadership, India defeated the Australians by 295 runs in four days, capturing a 1-0 series lead. Bumrah took four Australian wickets in the Day-Night Test at Adelaide Oval, which was played from December 6 to 8, and ended with nine combined wickets in the Gabba and Melbourne Cricket Ground for the third (6+3) and fourth (4+5) Tests, respectively.
A Season of Memories:
Perth Test: Leading India in the absence of regular captain Rohit Sharma, Bumrah’s match-defining spell in Perth not only clinched India a victory but also highlighted his leadership skills. His figures were a key part of this victory, showcasing his strategic acumen alongside his bowling prowess.
Against England: During the Test series against England, Bumrah delivered one of his best performances with figures of 6/45 in an innings. This spell came in the second match, helping India take a firm grip on the series. His ability to reverse swing the ball and deliver toe-crushing yorkers was on full display, earning him the Player of the Match.
Melbourne Test: In this match, Bumrah picked up a nine-wicket haul, which was crucial in setting up India’s victory. His performance in Melbourne was a testament to his growth as a bowler, adapting to Australian conditions and outsmarting the opposition with varied bowling tactics.
His recuperation from a back injury suffered during 2023 made the year all the more special, showing not just the brute physical, but mental endurance. Bumrah was always a threat, able to make seams and get bounce from surfaces unorthodox for most bowlers. With the amount of swing he could generate and the confidence with which he could bowl a yorker that many cricketers are afraid to other bowlers, opposition batsmen found it extremely challenging to settle down.
The ICC has honored Bumrah as the Test Cricketer of the Year not merely for his figures but very much as a recognition of the quality and impact of his performances. He became the first bowler in the ICC men’s player rankings across all three formats to achieve the number one ranking and this just emphatically underlines his versatility and supremacy in World Cricket. The boy is not simply attaining a personal milestone in the year 2024; it sends a message to every aspiring fast bowler that for skills and passion, adaptation is the order of the day if you are to succeed in the modern era of cricket.
