Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
‘I was just getting Bumrah-ed… Never felt like I could score off him’: AUS star confesses his struggles vs IND pacer
Khawaja opens on his struggles vs Bumrah with the new ball and admitted that Australia were relieved to see him not bowling on the third day of the final Test.
Veteran Australian opener Usman Khawaja made an honest admission about his struggles against India's pace spearhead, Jasprit Bumrah, in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Bumrah terrorised the Australian batters in the five-match series and got the better of Khawaja on six occasions. He didn't allow the left-handed opener to get settled against the new ball.
Khawaja had an underwhelming five-match series and scored just 184 runs at an average of 20.44 and only managed to hit one half-century.
Khawaja opens on his struggles against Bumrah with the new ball and admitted that Australia were relieved to see him not bowling on the third day of the final Test which allowed them to win the series 3-1.
“I was just getting Bumrah-ed. It was a friggin' tough work. It was tough work and people were asking me what was going on? Like I'm just being honest, I'm just getting Bumrah-ed. I have to face this guy with a new ball every single time. You never wanted to see anyone injured, and it's a shame he was (injured), but thank god for us. Today would’ve been an absolute nightmare facing him on that wicket. And you can see how big part of that team he was. As soon as we didn’t see him out there we thought ‘alright, we’ve got a chance here’,” Khawaja told ABC Sport.
The 31-year-old Bumrah finished as the leading wicket-taker with an incredible tally of 32 scalps, though India lost the series 1-3 after the six-wicket defeat in the fifth Test at the SCG. He was named Player of the Series for his exploits.
‘Jasprit Bumrah toughest bowler I’ve ever faced’: Usman Khawaja
Khawaja further rated Bumrah as the toughest bowler he has faced and said he just didn't feel like scoring runs against him during the five-match series.
"He’s the toughest bowler I’ve ever faced and I've faced him in 2018 and I think he got me out once and he was a very good bowler, but he's been something else this year, it looked like he's just got his tail up. He is six years more mature. He is a better bowler. He understands his skills, He understands who he is bowling to, he has different plans for everyone. I always feel like no matter how good a bowler is, they'll give me something to score off. I just never felt like I could score off him. I just felt so hard. It's easy to say it now because I probably won't have to face him again, thank God," he added.
