Jasprit Bumrah - Greenhorn in 2018, main man in 2021

January, 2018, Jasprit Bumrah arrives in South Africa having wreaked havoc in every part of the globe, albeit in white-ball cricket. Though he is only a couple of years into his international career, there is considerable optimism that he can, despite his nascency, become one of the greatest Indian fast bowlers to have ever lived.

Partly due to his white-ball heroics and largely due to his excellent Ranji Trophy numbers, Bumrah is handed his maiden Test cap at Cape Town. For many, this is the moment they wait for, especially when they start off playing cricket.

For Bumrah, this moment is accompanied by a mountain of pressure. Not because of what he has accomplished in the ODI and T20I fold, but because India have, before their 2018 adventure, never won a Test series in South Africa.

The stars seem to be aligning in India’s favour as the Proteas win the toss and elect to bat first on a lively surface. Bhunveshwar Kumar bamboozles Aiden Markram, Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla to leave the hosts tottering at 12/3. The brief for Bumrah is pretty clear – dent the South Africans further and ensure that they don’t have a chance of recovering.

Bumrah sticks to his task and keeps producing wicket-taking deliveries once in a while. Around that, though, there are a few balls that are punished and a few other deliveries that the likes of AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis feast on.

In the 33rd over, Bumrah storms back into the contest to castle de Villiers. By then, though, South Africa have veered their way to safety and are thinking about moving the game forward, as opposed to just restoring parity.

At that juncture, it feels like Bumrah, who hadn’t really bowled badly, is just a tad inexperienced in red-ball cricket. There were unplayable deliveries, but there were also occasions when he let his guard down – a non-negotiable against top-quality sides like South Africa.

An innings later, Bumrah fares a little better, removing de Villiers, du Plessis and Quinton de Kock. However, he still concedes more than 3 runs per over, meaning that the Proteas are able to post a total that is just beyond India’s reach.

The 2nd Test of the series sees Bumrah struggle for wickets again. He picks three in the second essay but the game had arguably passed India by, especially with the Proteas racking up 335 in the first innings – an innings where Bumrah returns wicket-less.

However, as it often happens with Bumrah, he found a way to get things working when India rocked up at Johannesburg. The pacer recorded his first five-wicket haul and was instrumental as the visitors picked up a watershed victory at the Wanderers. Not only did he outwit batters, he bowled with the sort of relentlessness that is a pre-requisite in Test cricket – a quality that he has always been blessed with but one that could unfortunately not come to the fore in the first two Tests.

In the aftermath of the game, India, apart from rejoicing in their immediate success, were also left drooling over what Bumrah could bring to the fore. On paper, he had all the tools to succeed as a fast bowler. In practice, he had shown that he could, despite the initial skepticism, become India’s pace spearhead.

Jasprit Bumrah has an exceptional record abroad

To be fair to Bumrah, he has exceeded the expectations of the Indian fans, which in itself, is a lot. While he hasn’t played many Tests at home, his record abroad is simply remarkable and pits him among the greatest to have ever played the game.

Among all bowlers to have taken 75 wickets or more in overseas Tests (not including games at neutral venues), Bumrah has the eighth best average (21.45). The only bowlers above the Indian to have played in the 21st century are Curtly Ambrose and Glenn McGrath.

When talking about strike-rates in overseas matches, Bumrah performs a shade better and finds himself placed seventh – only behind George Lohmann, Dale Steyn, Sydney Barnes, Mohammad Asif, Waqar Younis and Mitchell Starc.

For those wondering, Bumrah’s strike rate (48.3), which roughly equates to a wicket every eight overs, is remarkable considering he usually operates with the new ball and is used as a wicket-taking option when batters are looking to take the game away from the opposition.

Apart from that, Bumrah has been magnificent in 2021. He has played five fixtures away from home in this calendar year and has already amassed 21 wickets (in nine innings) at an average of 24.23. The only Indian bowler to have picked up more wickets than Bumrah is Mohammed Siraj, who has accounted for 22 batters across six games (11 innings).

Thus, a genuine case could be made that the Mumbai Indians speedster is the greatest threat that the Proteas will have to be wary of. Not just because of how incredibly consistent he has been, but also because the pitches, which are likelier to aid seam bowling than swing bowling, will magnify Bumrah’s effectiveness.

Moreover, the pacer has many more miles under his belt than he did when he toured South Africa in 2018. Back then, people were hopeful that Bumrah would translate his white-ball form into Tests and recreate the aura that has surrounded him since his international bow. Now, the whole world knows what Bumrah is capable of, although that doesn’t really guarantee success in their endeavors to blunt his potency.

In 2018, he was a relative greenhorn, who was still trying to devise what would work best for him. In 2021, he is India’s main man and the bowler who can keep the visitors ticking along, even when they aren’t at their best.

As for the part about him becoming one of India’s greatest ever fast bowlers, well, you’d guess he’s on the right path, especially after how things have changed since India last travelled to the rainbow nation.