"India had great Bumrah but missed…": Former Australia cricketer names a player whose absence proved costly

Ex-Australia pacer Damien Fleming was surprised when he saw Jasprit Bumrah’s aggressive reaction towards Sam Konstas on Day 1 of the fifth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Fleming mentioned that Bumrah sparked something in his teammates during the controversy before the speedster dismissed Usman Khawaja.

The pacer was furious with Konstas after the latter said something when Bumrah was urging Khawaja to carry on instead of wasting time. Bumrah was named the Player of the Series for taking 32 wickets.

Fleming opined that Bumrah deserved to walk away with the award, though Travis Head, with 448 runs, was also one of the contenders.

“I’ve never seen Bumrah like that before. He sparked something in his teammates that not a lot of cricketers have. When Sam Konstas batted, he was not fazed by the chat from the Indian players,” Fleming wrote in his column for ‘The Roar’:

“Bumrah was the deserving winner of the Player of the Series despite Travis Head also performing well with the bat,” he added.

Damien Fleming pointed out that India missed Mohammed Shami in the series. He praised Mohammed Siraj for taking 20 wickets in five Tests.

“Bumrah is a star and the greatest I have seen. Mohammed Siraj also bowled well, but I think they missed Mohammed Shami.”

Siraj was not consistent in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. Fleming credited Prasidh Krishna for his bowling.“Prasidh Krishna was good in Sydney and took six wickets in Sydney,” he mentioned.

With a series of defeats against New Zealand and Australia, India were eliminated from the race of World Test Championship final.

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