Indian pace sensation Jasprit Bumrah has been honoured with the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year at the ICC Awards, recognizing his extraordinary 2024, in which he dominated opponents in the longest as well as the shortest format of the game.
The bowling talisman overcame fellow nominees Travis Head, Joe Root and Harry Brook to the title and is the fifth recipient of the award from India, after Rahul Dravid (2004), Sachin Tendulkar (2010), Ravichandran Ashwin (2016) and Virat Kohli (2017, 2018).
In a year when cricket often leaned toward the batters, Jasprit Bumrah proved why he is one of the finest, if not the finest fast bowler in modern-day cricket.
The No. 1 ranked ICC Test Bowler, Bumrah, was the first Indian pacer who achieved 200 Test wickets while his average is below 20, the best in history. He was the first Indian bowling member to achieve points of 900 plus in the ICC Test Bowling Rankings and ended the year at record-breaking 907 points.
Jasprit Bumrah’s 2024 Highlights:
Bumrah was India’s best performer in the title-winning campaign of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. It was their first victory after 17 years. He took 15 wickets at an astonishing average of 8.26 and an economy rate of just 4.17, winning the Player of the Tournament award. His dominance over both powerplay and death overs made him India’s most formidable asset.
Though his T20 performances were outstanding, Bumrah’s contributions in Test cricket were equally remarkable. He claimed 71 Test wickets in just 13 matches, making him the highest wicket-taker in 2024 and only second to Kapil Dev for the most by an Indian pacer in a calendar year. He finished the year far ahead of England’s Gus Atkinson, who claimed 52 wickets.
He rose to peak in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with 32 wickets from five Tests and was handed the Player of the Series. It was phenomenal, as in the entire World Test Championship cycle 2023-2025, he returned 77 wickets-the most ever taken by fast bowlers in one cycle.