India's star bowler Jasprit Bumrah strikes the top spot in ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings for the first time. Bumrah's splendid 9/91 saw the right-arm pacer become the first quick from India to claim the top Test ranking.
Bumrah was awarded the Match honours in the second Test and escalated three places on the latest Test rankings for bowlers to claim the top spot from teammate Ravichandran Ashwin.
It is the first time that the 30-year-old held the top ranking despite having a total of 10 five-wicket hauls from 34 Test match appearances.
Two of those five-wicket hauls have come in Test matches in 2024 for Bumrah, with the India pacer collecting figures of 6/61 against South Africa in Cape Town at the start of the year and then an equally impressive spell of 6/45 in his most recent appearance against England, read the ICC statement.
The 30-year-old was an artist at work on day two of the second Test against England as he got the ball to reverse in three destructive spells across the last two sessions to end up with figures of six for 45 in 15.5 overs. It was largely due to his exploits that the hosts managed to clean up England for 253 and gain a substantial 143-run first-innings lead.
"In first-class cricket, if you want to take wickets in India, you have to learn to bowl reverse swing. Probably, I learned to bowl reverse swing before the conventional swing because you play a lot of cricket on slow wickets," said Bumrah.
"Test cricket teaches you patience, isn't' it? When you try and bowl magical deliveries now and then, it doesn't work. Even if you have everything you don't need to use everything at one particular time. "You understand what is working today and what is the need of the hour. Try to focus on the now. Earlier, if I have thought about taking six wickets, it has never worked for me. I have a lot of deliveries and you can confuse yourself. You need to shut that noise and focus on the next ball," he added.
(With PTI inputs)
First Published: Feb 7, 2024 4:32 PM IST
