Jasprit Bumrah the genie of Indian cricket, says Manjrekar

Jasprit Bumrah reached the milestone of 200 Test wickets on Day 4 of the fourth Test in Melbourne as he picked 4/56 in Australia’s second innings.  His performances this series have been so great that broadcaster and perennial controversy catcher Sanjay Manjrekar called him the ‘genie’ of Indian cricket.

“There's just no weakness this man has,” Manjrekar said on Star Sports. 

“It's almost like he is this genie that Indian cricket have brought as a gift and you make a wish and you get it. And it's always Bumrah providing it, be it T20 cricket World Cup or 50 over World Cup, or it's a match like this, crucial game on a page where a lot of the bowlers struggle to get anything out of it.”

Bumrah reached 200 wickets during the spell with an average of 19.56, the best for any bowler with as many wickets in the format. It was his skills that shone through on a flat track. Manjrekar eloquently alluded to that. 

“He was getting lateral movement. He's cleaned up Alex Carey as if he's a number 10, 11 batter,” the Mumbaikar remarked. 

“He just had two balls in that spell left. You knew he wasn't going to bowl more than two balls, and he nailed Alex Carey there as well. And when you look at the average, I mean, this is unbelievable. We talk about Curtly Ambrose. I had the privilege of playing against Malcolm Marshall. Now those are great names, and an average of under 20 after 200 wickets is just mind-boggling stuff from Jasprit Bumrah.”

Manjrekar felt that Bumrah’s success also rubbed off on Mohammed Siraj, who bowled with a lot of heart after a bad first innings and picked three wickets. 

“The fact of the matter is Mohammed Siraj realised that he had to put in his best show,” Manjrekar said. 

“So what he did basically was just ran in with a lot more energy, just put in a lot more effort. And sometimes that's all you need. And it was evident when we saw the speed gun, he was four or five kilometers quicker. There were a couple of balls over that were touching 140.

“In the first innings, it was maybe 134, 135. So sometimes it's just about bending your back and forget about all the other issues.

And that's what he did. And he was desperate for success. And sometimes when you push against the wall, and we've seen that with Mohammed Siraj, he comes up with the goods.”

However, despite the great efforts from Bumrah and Siraj, Australia already have a lead of 333 going into the last day. They still have a wicket left with Nathan Lyon nearing his half-century and Scott Boland having played 65 deliveries.