Jasprit Bumrah is best ever all-format fast bowler: Michael Clarke

Former Australia captain Michael Clarke said Jasprit Bumrah was the best all-format fast bowler after the Indian pacer took 32 wickets to rattle Australian batters in the recently concluded Test series.

In Short

• Michael Clarke hails Bumrah as best all-format pacer
• Bumrah took 32 wickets in Border-Gavaskar Trophy
• The Indian pacer also won Player-of-the-Series award

Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has praised Jasprit Bumrah as the best all-format fast bowler ever following his Player-of-the-Series performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Bumrah took 32 wickets at an impressive average of 13.06 before being sidelined by an injury midway through Australia's first innings at the SCG.

Despite Bumrah's absence, India's other fast bowlers managed to secure a slender four-run lead. However, Australia successfully chased down a target of 162 on the third day to win the series 3-1. Bumrah narrowly missed equalling Sydney Barnes' 1911-12 record of 34 wickets in a series by a touring pace bowler in Australia. Bumrah will compete for ICC Men's Player of the Month award for December 2024 with Australian captain Pat Cummins and South Africa's Dane Paterson.

"The thing I've thought about Bumrah, after the series finished and I was sitting and thinking about his performances, I actually think he's the best fast bowler ever across all three formats," Clarke told ESPN's Around The Wicket.

"I know a lot of great fast bowlers, Curtly Ambrose, Glenn McGrath, didn't get to play T20 cricket so I'm not talking about those guys, but in regards to anyone who has played all three formats, I think he might be the best ever. He's actually that good in any conditions, that's what makes him great; any conditions, any format, this guy's a freak."

Among India's other fast bowlers, Mohammed Siraj was the next highest wicket-taker, claiming 20 wickets at an average of 31.15. Prasidh Krishna's six wickets in Sydney hinted that he might have been worth including earlier in the series. However, Australia managed to post totals exceeding 400 in both Brisbane and Melbourne, with the latter coming on a short turnaround before the Sydney Test. Aaron Finch believed their tactics ultimately paid off.

"Australia were prepared to play the long game with Jasprit Bumrah," Finch told Around The Wicket. "They wanted to make him bowl over and over and over, make him come back for one more spell, bowl another three, four, five [more] overs and in the end it worked, they broke him in the end. They played that long game, they won.

"Had he bowled in the last innings in Sydney, would Australia have got over the line? Think they still just get over the line, but it would have been a lot more difficult than it was."