Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
Jasprit Bumrah pips Joe Root, Harry Brook to be named ICC Men's Test Cricketer of the Year
Jasprit Bumrah has been named ICC Men's Test Cricketer of the Year. In 2024, the India pacer took 71 wickets in 13 Tests at an average of 14.92.
Jasprit Bumrah was at the peak of his powers in 2024 as he delivered for India in every match that he played. The India speedster, who took 32 wickets in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, has now been named ICC Men's Test Cricketer of the Year. Bumrah's brilliance was on show in both home and away conditions. The pacer took the pitch out of the equation and was a force to be reckoned with.
Bumrah defeated England's Joe Root, Harry Brook, and Sri Lanka's Kamindu Mendis (Sri Lanka) to win the accolade. Bumrah is the first Indian pacer to win this award. The other Indian players to have won ICC Men's Test Cricketer of the Year are Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Ravichandran Ashwin and Virat Kohli.
The 31-year-old was exceptional in home conditions, and his form was key in India's wins against England and Bangladesh. He also proved his metal in overseas conditions, as he was the pick of the bowlers on away tours of South Africa and Australia.
In 2024, Bumrah returned with 71 Test wickets, clear of the second-placed Gus Atkinson of England, who scalped 52 wickets in 11 matches. The India pacer averaged a mind-boggling 14.92, and he rounded off the year with a strike rate of just 30.1.
Bumrah also bowled 357 overs in the longest format for India, proving why he is the ultimate workhorse. He is just the fourth Indian bowler, after Ravichandran Ashwin, Anil Kumble and Kapil Dev, to take more than 70 Test wickets in a single calendar year.
How did 2024 go for Bumrah in Tests?
The pacer who was ajudged Player of the Series in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, started 2024 by taking eight wickets across two innings in Cape Town as India hammered South Africa.
He then took 19 wickets during the five-match Test series against England to help India win 4-1. However, it was in the series against Australia that Bumrah came into his own.
He finished with an incredible 32 wickets from five Tests and was named Player of the Series. It was during the series Down Under that Bumrah crossed the 200 Test wickets mark, becoming the 12th Indian bowler to do so.
He also became the only bowler in Test history with a minimum of 200 dismissals to have an average of less than 20 (19.4). Bumrah led from the front in the series opener in Perth in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma.
Bumrah wreaked havoc with the ball as he took a five-wicket haul in the first innings to help India stage a comeback after being bundled out for 150. The pacer took three more wickets in the Test to help India register a 295-run win.
The speedster suffered back spasms in the Sydney Test against Australia and who knows what would have happened had Bumrah taken the field in the second innings.
