Jasprit Bumrah registered his third five-wicket haul in Test cricket and a 6-wicket haul overall in the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Friday to leave the home team stunned with his quality.
Nathan Lyon was Bumrah's fifth victim and was dismissed on a duck with a brilliant delivery coming into the pads. Apart from Lyon, Bumrah picked the wickets of Marcus Harris, Shaun Marsh, Travis Head, and Tim Paine.
Jasprit Bumrah surpassed Dileep Doshi to register most wickets for India in his debut year in Test cricket with 42 and counting. With three wickets in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne against Australia, Bumrah set up the new record in Indian cricket.
Dileep Doshi in 1979 had taken 40 wickets in his debut Test year, which was a record until Bumrah broke through in 2018. Venkatesh Prasad is on third behind Doshi with 37 in 1996. Narendra Hirwani with 36 wickets in 1988 and Sreesanth with 35 in 2006 complete the top five.
Bumrah has been in top form since the start of the year in Test cricket and has been a regular in the Indian team – a go-to bowler for Captain Virat Kohli. With his unique action and outrageously consistent pace, Bumrah is a difficult bowler to play and Australia was learning it the hard way.
First Bumrah used the short ball to good effect against Harris while the Australian opener played quite a poor shot to affect his own dismissal. Then came two brilliant deliveries from Bumrah for his two other wickets.
The last ball before lunch saw Bumrah bowl a peach of a delivery to Shaun Marsh to catch him Leg Before Wicket (LBW). A slower ball drifting inside and it hit the pads of Marsh while the Australian was just looking to defend.
With Bumrah leading the line, Australia was bowled out for just 151 runs as they played 66.5 overs in reply to India's first innings total of 443/7 declared.