Only one Indian bowler in the history of Test cricket has managed to take a five-wicket haul each in South Africa, England, Australia and West Indies. Remarkably, Jasprit Bumrah has achieved that feat after touring all of those countries just once, in his first season as a Test cricket.
The last of those came on August 25, 2019 when he ripped through the West Indies batting line-up in Antigua as India registered a win in the first Test of the series.
Having been set a target of 419 to win, West Indies realistically had to bat a little more than four sessions to draw the match. But they lasted just 26.5 overs.
Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami did their part but it was Bumrah who broke the back of West Indies’ batting order. And he did so by shaping the ball away from right-handers and back into the left-handers for each of his five wickets.
How Bumrah reached his five-for:
Kraigg Brathwaite, caught behind by an away-swinger:
WI: 7/1, Bumrah 1/1, from 0.4 overs
John Campbell, bowled through the gate by a ball that moved back in to the left-hander:
WI: 10/2, Bumrah 2/4 from 1.5 overs
Darren Bravo, bowled through the gate by a ball that moved back in to the left-hander:
WI: 15/5, Bumrah 3/6 from 3.3 overs
Shai Hope, bowled by a ball that shaped away late:
WI: 27/6, Bumrah 4/7 from 5.3 overs
Jason Holder, bowled by a full delivery that swung away late:
WI: 37/7, Bumrah 5/7 from 7.2 overs
“As a bowling unit, we came with attacking options. Me and Ishant were trying to use the crease too, to generate the swing. A lot of hardwork goes into my delivery. I used to bowl the inswinger earlier, but the more Test matches I’ve played, I’ve gotten more confident to bowl the outswinger, especially since England. I am always trying to evolve. This wicket was sometimes on the flatter side, that time we had to do things differently. It was swinging today, so we bowled this way,” Bumrah said after the match.
The result was the cheapest five-wicket Test innings haul in the history of Indian cricket.
| Player | Overs | Runs | Wkts | Econ | Inns | Opposition | Ground | Start Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JJ Bumrah | 8.0 | 7 | 5 | 0.87 | 4 | v West Indies | North Sound | 22 Aug 2019 |
| SLV Raju | 17.5 | 12 | 6 | 0.67 | 2 | v Sri Lanka | Chandigarh | 23 Nov 1990 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 4.3 | 13 | 5 | 2.88 | 2 | v West Indies | Kingston | 30 Jun 2006 |
| SP Gupte | 6.0 | 18 | 5 | 3.00 | 3 | v Pakistan | Dhaka | 1 Jan 1955 |
| J Srinath | 11.5 | 21 | 6 | 1.77 | 4 | v South Africa | Ahmedabad | 20 Nov 1996 |
You can watch highlights of the Bumrah spell here (WI innings starting from 23rd minute onwards):
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