Former Australia fast bowler Brett Lee reserved blockbuster praise for India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who leads the wicket-taking charts in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Bumrah has picked up 21 wickets so far in three Tests, and single-handedly won India the series opener in Perth last month. While Australia outplayed India in the last two Tests, Bumrah’s performances have not dropped one bit. There has been much criticism of India’s other frontline pacers, especially Mohammed Siraj.

Despite bagging 13 wickets so far, Siraj has been criticised for not playing the ideal support act at times. However, Lee defended Siraj and said that Bumrah has set a benchmark so high that it often overshadows the contributions of his fellow pacers.

“He is world class, Jasprit Bumrah. Unfortunately, they had no Mohammed Shami, but I think the backing of Mohammed Siraj-there has been a bit of conjecture around him but I think he has bowled really well,” said Lee.

Lee feels Bumrah is way ahead of any other bowler in the world.

“In my opinion, they have an attack that has some good pace bowlers, but the reason why people say or think he is shouldering the whole load of the attack is that he is so good. He (Bumrah) is miles ahead of any other bowler, and that is no disrespect to the other bowlers going around, but that is how good he is,” the pace great added.

Bumrah, India’s player of the series so far, took nine wickets in the third Test at Brisbane. 

He was player of the match in India’s 295-run victory in Perth in the opening Test, before the hosts levelled the series in Adelaide.

He is the leading bowler on either side, with 21 wickets in the series so far, and he has a scarcely believable average of 10.90.

Bumrah, captaining in the first Test in the absence of Rohit Sharma, made life hell for the Australian batsmen on a bouncing Perth pitch. 

He took 5-30 from 18 overs as the hosts were shot out for 104 and followed up with 3-42 in the second innings as India won by 295 runs.

(With AFP Inputs)

File image of Ravichandran Ashwin.© BCCI

Australia’s skipper Pat Cummins said he was surprised by India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin announcing his retirement from international cricket after the drawn Test at Brisbane, adding that he will go down as one of the greats of the game. Shortly after third Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Brisbane ended in a draw at the Gabba on Wednesday, Ashwin announced in the post-match press conference about his decision to retire from international cricket with immediate effect. His last international game was the day-night Test in Adelaide, where he took 1-53 in 18 overs.

“A bit of a surprise, he has been a champion player for them. One of the greats who played a lot over the last 10-plus years. He’s had a wonderful career and massive respect from our change room for the career he has had, said Pat Cummins. 

Former Australia pacer Brett Lee also paid a tribute to Ashwin, calling  him “one of the greatest” players of the game. 

“This guy is one of the greats of the game. The last time a spinner retired mid way through a series was Graeme Swann, I think,” said Lee. 

Ex-Australia keeper Brad Haddin stated Ashwin had earned the right to end his 14-year international career for India. “More will come out when Ashwin has his opportunity to speak; just reading between the lines, it looked like he may have been a bit frustrated with the spinning options that they’ve changed in the first three Test matches. To me, he was a student of the game (and) always looking at ways to get better … he’s earned the right.”

Hailing from Chennai, Ashwin ends his career with 537 wickets at average of 24 in 106 Tests and becoming India’s second leading wicket-taker after legendary leg-spinner Anil Kumble. He also scored six Test centuries and 14 fifties with the bat. His last international game was the day-night Test in Adelaide, where he took 1-53.

Ashwin also played 116 ODIs for India, taking 156 wickets, and being a member of 2011 ODI World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy winning teams. Ashwin also played 65 T20I matches and took 72 wickets.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan said he will miss watching Ashwin bowl. “He may have been told that he’s not going to play any further part in this series, and rightly so, (he) just decided to go out on his own terms. I’m going to miss his bowling, that flight, carom balls, his abilities to bowl in all conditions … (in India) a batter has got no chance when you’re facing that quality.”

Australian commentator Mark Howard was left bleeding after a bail hit him on the head during a promo shoot in Sydney. Ahead of the second Test between India and Australia, legendary pacer Brett Lee was doing a bowling challenge while Howard was wicketkeeping. Lee fired a vicious delivery that went on to hit top of off. While Howard did collect the ball, the follow through saw the bail hit Howard on the side of his forehead, leaving the veteran commentary bleeding. Howard was rushed to the hospital where he had to be stitched up.

Lee revealed that he heard two sounds but didn’t realise about Howard’s injury until the latter hunched over in grimace.

“We were filming today, doing a bowling challenge. I bowled a ball, it went through the top of off, Howie was keeping, he’s caught the ball and I’ve heard two noises,” Lee told News Corp.

“I’ve seen him hunched over and I thought, ‘geez, what’s happened,’ and I’ve realised the bail has flown through and impaled him right in the middle of the head and there was claret everywhere. He was bleeding pretty badly. But in all my years playing cricket at a professional level, I’ve never seen a bail travel that quick or that fast. It was a one in a million chance of it happening and I think the bail hit him first before he caught the ball, which means it must have literally hit the top of off stump,” he added.

Former Australian express pace bowler Brett Lee has claimed another victim, this time with Fox Cricket host Mark Howard sent to hospital. Vision here @kayosports

STORY | https://t.co/vFanZ7wEah pic.twitter.com/r174rM87kQ

— Telegraph Sport (@telegraph_sport) December 5, 2024

Lee also revealed that despite the incident, Howard will be on commentary duty for the pink-ball Test, starting in Adelaide from Friday.

“He’ll be raring to go come Friday. Nothing changes for us. He’s still hosting, still calling, still doing all the Howie stuff he does and the great job that he does. He might be a bit patched up like Rick McCosker, but he took it like a trooper and is tougher than some of the batsmen I bowled to, 100 per cent,” added Lee.

Howard, on the other hand, was relieved that the ball didn’t hit him on the eye as it could have ended his career as a cricket commentator at least.

“It was one in a million to happen. I’m glad it didn’t hit me in the eye. He was very concerned. There was blood everywhere and then there was a discussion, ‘no, no, definitely no ambulance’, but there was a hospital literally 200 metres up the road. They looked after me in there, they were fantastic at RPA,” Howard further revealed.

Howard also jokingly revealed that while Lee was a bit concerned for him, the pace bowling great was also happy that the incident was captured on the camera from multiple angles.

“With blood pouring out of my head, there were about four cameras there in 4K as there always is on Fox shoots, so Binga was pretty happy to show me the replay within about a minute of it happening. I had blood dripping out of my head while he was showing me the replay,” Howard revealed.

Does Virat Kohli deserve a place in the Indian Test team for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia? If only stats were to be considered, the talismanic batter might not get the selectors’ nod for the assignment Down Under. However, the reputation Virat has built over the years, especially through his knocks in Australia, makes him a player who cannot be dropped. In the recently concluded Test series against New Zealand, Kohli didn’t even cross the 100-run mark cumulatively. Yet, Australian cricket legend Brett Lee feels Kohli is the man to watch out in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

“He’s got an Australian mentality, a never-say-die attitude. He doesn’t mind getting into a scrap. He doesn’t mind having a crack,” Lee told Fox Cricket.

“There has been a lot of conjecture around his form recently, but I’m not worried about that. I know with Kohli, he’s got the experience underneath his belt,” he said.

Australia remains one of Kohli’s favourite hunting grounds in Test cricket. The Delhi-born batter has amassed 1352 runs at an impressive average of 54.08 Down Under in the longest format of the game.

Virat also has a whopping six centuries on Australian soil, a feat no other Indian batter has been able to match. The statistics, hence, prove how much Kohli enjoys batting in the Australian conditions.

“He may have only got 90 runs in the three-Test series against the Kiwis, but who cares? When he comes out here, he has a great record in Australia,” Lee concluded his point, taking a sharp swipe at Virat’s critics.

Earlier, Lee had put Kohli in the same bracket as the great Sachin Tendulkar, recalling his experiences of bowling against the latter.

“There has been a lot of speculation and conjecture around Kohli’s form and I can promise you that when he gets out here, he will be raring to go, because he is a superstar,” he said.

“It is an old cliche where you don’t want to try to play against the name. You try to treat him, with all due respect, as (another) batsman. And it was the same when I was bowling against Sachin Tendulkar. You can get overawed by the stature of the guy and the history and what he has achieved, but the thing with Kohli is that he loves to get into a scrap. And I mean that in a nice way. He loves to get himself up for the competition.

Dubbed as the bowler “impossible to face” by swashbuckling Australian batter Travis Head and a “cat burglar” by former tearaway pacer Brett Lee, Jasprit Bumrah’s reputation precedes him. The India pacer, who is set to captain India in the first Test of the five-match series starting here Friday, has left both past and present Australian players in awe of his skill and threat. Not since the golden era of the West Indies in the 1970s has a touring pace bowler struck fear into the hearts of Australians as much as Bumrah, according to the local media here.

On his two previous Test tours of Australia, the 30-year-old Bumrah, who is set to captain India in the first Test of the five-match series here from Friday, took 32 wickets at an average of 21.25, including a match-winning 6/33 during the 2018 Boxing Day Test.

Since the start of the 20th century, only two touring bowlers have taken more wickets in Australia at a lower average — Richard Hadlee and Curtly Ambrose.

Head, Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith — all top-order batters — who are set to face Bumrah in the marquee five-match series are unanimous about the pivotal role the Indian pace spearhead can play for India.

“Impossible (to face). You try to feel like you’re one step ahead, but it always feels like he’s that next step,” Head told ‘Fox Cricket’.

“Any format of the game, he’s incredible. He’s their X-factor, he’s the guy they go to every time, and more often than not, he’s able to produce for them.

“In big moments you want big players, and I think he’s their biggest. You’ve got your work cut out as a batter. He’s someone that’s going to be difficult over summer.” Part of Bumrah’s magic is his signature bowling action, which defies cricket convention.

“He (Bumrah) creeps in like a cat burglar,” pace legend Lee said in a lighter vein.

Bumrah’s “awkward and weird” action made Khawaja wonder where the ball came from when he first faced the Indian.

“When I first faced Bumrah, I was like, ‘Oh where did that come from?’” Khawaja said.

“It comes at you a little bit quicker than you expect because of the awkwardness of his action and how he releases the ball.

“Much like Mitchell Johnson, he had a weird action too. The ball used to come out and felt like it got to you quicker because you didn’t get a look at it the whole way. Jasprit’s a little bit the same, with arms going everywhere.” Star batter Smith is one of the few Australian players who has an impressive record against Bumrah, averaging 56.67 across formats, but the New South Welshman admitted that he still feels vulnerable against the Indian speedster early in his innings.

“He’s just awkward with the way he bowls, it’s obviously very different to a lot of other people,” Smith said.

“It takes a little bit getting used to. I’ve played against him quite a lot now, and it still takes a couple of balls to get used to the different rhythm.”

Former Australian pacer Brett Lee has advised India skipper Rohit Sharma and star batter Virat Kohli to hit the “reset button”, work on their technique and hit the ground running in the five-Test series against Australia, beginning in Perth in less than 10 days’ time. The two batting stalwarts will be keenly observed during the Border-Gavaskar series Down Under following their underwhelming performance in the 0-3 Test whitewash by New Zealand recently.

“When you have a couple of bad runs back to back, that’s when the pressure gets set in. So, I guess the thing now is that someone like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, they’ve just got to go back to the drawing board,” Lee said on his YouTube channel.

“They are champions because they do the basics better than anybody else. Then, just hit the reset button, almost.” Lee also warned that the Australian pacers would be aiming to attack Rohit and Kohli with the new ball, and that they should quickly sort their batting.

“(They should) work on their technique, freshen up, get away from cricket for as much as they can and then hit the ground running when they go to Australia because I can promise you the Australian fast bowlers will be attacking Rohit Sharma with that brand-new ball,” he added.

Rohit has managed 588 runs in 11 Tests at an average of just 29.40 this year, while Kohli has accumulated 250 runs in six Test at an average of 22.72.

Lee felt the tendency of the two batter to be too aggressive might have resulted in their poor show so far this year.

“It’s hard to put your finger on why they (Rohit and Kohli) failed. If you first look at the way that Rohit Sharma got out, a lot to the quicks.

“So, I can’t say there’s a technical fault there because I’ve seen him play for the last decade. I still believe he’s one of the best players of the pull shot in world cricket, but maybe he’s a little bit too aggressive.

“Maybe there were a couple of shots… was there a technique issue? Was his bat leaving his pad a bit too early? Was he getting that far forward or not enough forward? Or, was he sort of being a little bit hesitant?” Lee wondered.

Brett Lee suggested India underestimated New Zealand due to their exceptional home record.© BCCI

Brett Lee (L) and Harbhajan Singh© X (Twitter)

Australia’s fast-bowling great Brett Lee said if India wish to win this year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, they need pacers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and a recovering Mohammed Shami in top form. While Bumrah and Siraj have been consistently turning out for India, Shami has not played competitive cricket since last year’s ODI World Cup at home due to recovering from an Achilles tendon injury, which needed surgery in London this year.

Shami, who had a strapping on his left knee when bowling in a session after India lost the Bengaluru Test to New Zealand by eight wickets, is likely to feature first in Ranji Trophy to assess his fitness and preparedness before playing the all-important Test series in Australia.

“Mohammed Shami has to be fit if India want to win over here. We all know how good a bowler Bumrah is. He is a guy who can shape the ball both ways and I think he will bowl extremely well. He is great with the old ball. He is a great exponent of reverse swing.

“Mohammed Siraj gets that new ball to talk and when he presents that seam upright, he gets it shape away, and that is where Australia can get in trouble and nick off, especially on these wickets like Perth, like Adelaide, that can be conducive to fast bowling.

“For me, it is that combination. It is those three fast bowlers plus (Ravichandran) Ashwin, the spinner. Then they have guys who are part-time spinners to play a role. But you have to have those three quicks firing if India want to win,” said Lee on Fox Cricket’s ‘The Follow On’ podcast.

Lee also believes in case Shami is not ready in time to play Tests in Australia, India can go in with young speedster Mayank Yadav, the breakout start from IPL 2024 who made his T20I debut against Bangladesh this month. Yadav is also one of the tour traveling reserves for the Indian team in their ongoing Test series against New Zealand.

“The great thing about India is that they are not worried about how much cricket someone has played, how much they haven’t played. It is a bit like a Sam Konstas – if he is ready to go, get him (Mayank Yadav) in there – and I actually love that theory.

“One thing I can promise you is that batsmen are OK around that 135km to 140km an hour mark. It is when they are bowling high 150s — I don’t care who it is — no-one wants to face fast bowling over 150km/h. Yes, you can be a little bit erratic. Yes, you can bowl short and wide and get punished.

“But he looks as though he has the complete package. He is fresh and raw. But I would be inclined to go with him if Mohammed Shami is not ready. At least get him in the squad. Get him around the team and if something happens and he presents himself, he might get that opportunity and I think he would do pretty well on these Australian wickets,” he said.