New Delhi: Jasprit Bumrah, India’s pace bowling star, has been crowned as the ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year for 2024, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Monday. Bumrah was rewarded by the World Cricket body for his best-ever annual haul in Test cricket.
Bumrah was instrumental to India’s superb run in the World Test Championship 2023-25 throughout the year. India were favourites to enter the third successive WTC final before a pair of dramatic series defeats derailed their campaign.
Bumrah, the world’s number one Test bowler, excelled in both home and away conditions and proved a key contributor for the Indian cricket team.
Bumrah is the sixth Indian cricketer to get the top Test prize after Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Ravichandran Ashwin and Virat Kohli. He is the first Indian fast bowler to get the honour.
Jasprit Bumrah’s Test record in 2024
Bumrah finished the year way ahead in the leading wicket-takers list in 2024, topping the charts with 71, well ahead of second-placed Gus Atkinson of England (52 in 11).
The superstar pacer emerged as the lone warrior for the Indian team in the away series against Australia, finishing the series as the highest wicket-taker with 32 dismissals even though India dismally lost the series.
Returning to red-ball cricket from a back injury in late 2023, Bumrah bowled a whopping eye-watering 357 overs in the Test format in 2024, with a sensational average of 2.96.
He took wickets at an unbelievable average of 14.92 and a strike rate of just 30.1.
Bumrah became only the fourth India bowler to pick more than 70 Test wickets in a calendar year joining an elite list including Ravichandran Ashwin, Anil Kumble and Kapil Dev.
All the effort and burden of spearheading the Indian pace attack forced Bumrah’s body to break down in the first Test of 2025. The ace speedster sustained a back injury in the fifth and final Test against Australia in Sydney and is doubtful for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Jasprit Bumrah is the sixth Indian cricketer to get the top Test prize after Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Ravichandran Ashwin and Virat Kohli. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
