Usman Khawaja’s confidence during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was strengthened by his past encounters with Jasprit Bumrah, as he had not been dismissed by the Indian fast bowler in their last seven Test innings.
Khawaja believed that facing Bumrah multiple times had helped him to manage the challenges posed by the bowler, suggesting that it gets easier to tackle when you play against the same opponent for several times.
But after dismissing the Indian fast bowler for six times, during eight innings, Khawaja expressed that he “was just getting Bumrah’ed”.
“To be honest, I was just getting Bumrah-ed,” Khawaja told ABC Sport after Australia regained the BGT in Sydney. “It was friggin’ tough work. It was tough work. People were asking me ‘what’s going on?’ I’m being honest, I’m just getting Bumrah-ed.”
Bumrah won the title of Player of the Series twice, taking 32 wickets at an average of 13.06 and he was also the highest wicket-taker in the series.
He bowled a total nine innings and he was not able to field during Australia’s chase at the SCG in their first innings, due to his back injury.
During Bumrah’s absence, Australia successfully managed to win with six wickets. And Khawaja admitted that Australia played more confidently on a spicy pitch when Bumrah was not playing.
“You never want to see anyone injured and it’s a shame he was, but thank God for us. Because today would have been an absolute nightmare facing him on that wicket,” Khawaja said.
“And you can see what a big part of their team he was. And everyone felt it. As soon as we didn’t see Bumrah out there, we had this sense of feeling that we’ve actually got a chance here.”
Khawaja said Bumrah is “the toughest bowler I’ve ever faced” and also praised that after his first tour of Australia in 2018-19 he improved his bowling skills.
“He was always good, he was a very good bowler [in 2018]. But he’s been something different this year,” Khawaja further added. “It looked like he’s just got his tail up.”
“The wickets have definitely helped him, but he’s six years more mature, he’s a better bowler, he understands his skills. He understands who he’s bowling to and he has different plans for everyone.”
“I always feel like no matter how good a bowler is, they’ll always give me something to score off. I just never felt like I could score off him. It just felt so hard. I’ve never found someone so hard to score off and get off strike as Bumrah and you always feel like he’s got a wicket ball up his sleeve.”
Khawaja did not fare well in the recently-concluded BGT as He scored 184 runs at 20.44, passing 20 just four times with one half-century in Melbourne and an important 41 in Sydney. If anything, his future in Australia seems sceptical as of now, at least.
Australia will now face Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series starting from 29th January.
