Jasprit Bumrah achieved a remarkable milestone on Sunday, becoming the second fastest Indian bowler to claim 200 Test wickets during the Boxing Day Test against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Melbourne.
After taking four wickets in the first innings, Bumrah reached this landmark with his second dismissal in Australia’s second innings on Day 4. He removed Travis Head for just 1, marking his 200th Test wicket in his 44th match. Bumrah joins Pat Cummins and Kagiso Rabada in achieving this feat in 44 Tests, placing him in elite company.
Bumrah reached the milestone in just 8,484 legal deliveries, surpassing Mohammed Shami, who took 9,896 balls to achieve the same. This makes Bumrah the fastest Indian bowler to 200 Test wickets in terms of balls bowled. Globally, he ranks fourth on this list, behind Waqar Younis, Dale Steyn, and Kagiso Rabada.
The recently retired Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the quickest among Indians to have taken 200 wickets, a feat that he achieved in his 37th Test.
Ashwin ranks third among the fastest bowlers to reach 200 Test wickets, trailing two leg-spinners: Pakistan’s Yasir Shah, who achieved the feat in 33 Tests, and Australia’s Clarrie Grimmett, who did so in 36 Tests. Following the dismissal of Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh fell for a duck, caught behind the wicket, as Bumrah raised his Border-Gavaskar Trophy wicket tally to 28.
Fewest balls to 200 test wickets
- Waqar Younis – 7,725
- Dale Steyn – 7,848
- Kagiso Rabada – 8,154
- Jasprit Bumrah – 8,484
- Malcolm Marshall – 9,234
Bumrah, who debuted in January 2018, also became the first bowler to take 200 Test wickets with a bowling average under 20 (19.56). Among bowlers in the 200-wicket club, only Kagiso Rabada (39.42) and Dale Steyn (42.38) boast better strike rates than Bumrah’s 42.42.
The recently retired Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin holds the record as the fastest Indian to reach 200 Test wickets, achieving the milestone in just his 37th match.
In terms of matches, Bumrah is second-fastest among Indian bowlers to reach 200 wickets, following R. Ashwin, who achieved it in 38 games. Additionally, with his first wicket of the second innings, Bumrah became the third pacer after Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc to claim 150 Test wickets in the ICC World Test Championship since 2019. Among Indian bowlers, only Ashwin (195) has more WTC wickets than Bumrah’s 151* across three championship cycles.
With inputs from PTI
