Lone ranger Bumrah: A force to reckon with on the field

Jasprit Bumrah does some fielding drills during practice in Melbourne yesterday. Pic/Getty Images

Yeh toh Kotla wicket jaise hai, he guffawed, as Rohit Sharma was forced to jab hurriedly at a delivery from Akash Deep that kept low at the Melbourne Cricket Ground practice facility on Sunday morning.

Leading by example

Even when he is not hunting batters down, Jasprit Bumrah is impossible to ignore. He has a word with everyone, he has time for his mates - exchanging fist bumps with Dhruv Jurel, indulging in banter with Abhimanyu Easwaran. A smile stays plastered as he begins his walk-in, then disappears once he explodes towards the bowling crease. In that little phase, he dons his game face; the result, more often than not, is devastating.

Almost single-handedly, Bumrah has kept India alive in this Test series. Ahead of the first Test in Perth on November 22, had the Indians been offered a 1-1 score line heading into the last two matches, they would have gladly taken it. If they are in this situation today, it's thanks to the paceman extraordinaire's 21-wicket heroics, highlighted by his five-fer in the first innings of the first Test when India opened up a lead of 46 despite being shot out for 150.

Bumrah has dominated every conversation in the last month. There is awe and reverence and perhaps even a touch of dread when the Australians speak about him, whereas with his teammates, you can clearly sense admiration and respect and a certain pride that he is on their side. Each one of India's top-order batters, struggling for form and consistency, must be delighted that their only showdowns with him are in the practice nets and that ‘outs' at training don't count for a great deal beyond embarrassment. But then again, there is no shame in being ‘dismissed' by the best in the business, is there?

Nathan McSweeney might go on to become the best at some stage in the future, but he couldn't have asked for a more demanding start to his Test career. The 25-year-old South Australian captain, essentially a No. 3 batter, was pitchforked into the vacant role of Usman Khawaja's opening partner at the start of the series and now finds himself axed after a disappointing run translating to 72 runs from six innings. Bumrah has had his number four times in the 66 deliveries he has bowled to him, one of the reasons why McSweeney has been replaced by the 19-year-old Sam Konstas for the last two games, in Melbourne and Sydney.

Konstas faces Jasprit challenge

Konstas is an exciting, attacking batter who was part of the Australian U-19 World Cup-winning team earlier this year and who scored a fine century against Indians in the pink ball one-day game in Canberra at the start of the month. He has expressed a desire to pit his wares against Bumrah and his wish will come true at some stage over the next week. Australia will be hoping he has greater success against the Indian vice-captain than Khawaja, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, who Bumrah has packed off four, three and two times respectively in the first three Tests.

Bumrah has the most ridiculously remarkable figures in this series - 21 wickets, average 10.90, economy 2.60, strike-rate 25.1. But even he has found the Travis Head challenge hard to overcome. That will be his immediate goal, to quickly outwit the Australian No. 5, who has been a giant thorn in India's side all series long.