While India’s fast bowling great will be coy to rate himself, England’s Fred Trueman was never hesitant to state that he was the greatest

India’s Jasprit Bumrah during the Melbourne Test of the 2024-25 series (inset) England great Fred Trueman. PICS/GETTY IMAGES

Jasprit Bumrah has been called, by one pundit, the Don Bradman of fast bowling. It went viral. There are long-serving cricketers like Stuart Broad who believe that Bumrah is indeed the greatest ever.

No one can fall into the ‘all-time great’ category without being a mighty force in Test cricket. So, let’s talk Test cricket even at a time when we are still savouring India’s T20 World Cup capture.

The 300-Test wicket club once symbolised fast bowling greatness. Bumrah hasn’t reached 300 wickets. He is still 66 away after playing 52 Tests, but his average is 19.79 — the best among all Test bowlers who have claimed 200 or more Test wickets. His economy rate of 2.77 may not be the best in that lot, but is very impressive all the same. His strike-rate is 42.86, third to only Kagiso Rabada (39.51) and Dale Steyn (42.38).

While talk about Bumrah being on top of the pile across all formats will carry on, it’s highly unlikely that the player himself will come out and say he is the greatest. The one fast bowler who pulled off the........

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