BGT 2024: I'll tell my grandkids I faced him, Travis Head calls Jasprit Bumrah one of the greatest pacers to play the game

Bumrah starred with the ball in India’s 295-run victory over Australia in Perth.

By Salman Anjum - 02 Dec, 2024

Jasprit Bumrah starred with the ball in India’s 295-run victory over Australia in the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at the Optus Stadium, Perth.

Bumrah, who stepped in as captain in the absence of Rohit Sharma, made the Aussie batters dance to his tunes, returning with eight-wicket haul (8-72) in the match.

For his match-winning exploits, the right-arm quick is receiving praises from all quarters. Recently, Australian batter Travis Head reserved big praise for Bumrah, saying that the Indian star will be remembered as "one of the greatest fast bowlers to play the game" and he will be able to proudly share with his grandchildren the difficult task of taking on the ace pacer.

"Jasprit will go down as probably one of the greatest fast bowlers to play the game. I think we're finding that at the moment -- how challenging he can be, and it's nice to play against that," Head told reporters on Monday (December 2).

"It's gonna be nice to go back and look at your career and go tell the grandkids that you faced him. So not a bad series of playing with him. Hopefully I'll face a few more times, but he is as being challenging," he added.

Australia’s top order, which included Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, and Marnus Labuschagne, failed to tackle Bumrah in Perth. Head was the only Australian batter to reach fifty and the southpaw hoped that his teammates won't be coming to him for advice.

"They are not coming to me for batting tips, that's for sure. Everyone goes about it in different ways. We'll have a chat over the next three or four days.

"(Bumrah) is so unique, and that's with any of the bowlers, really. Every (batter) picks up different cues and goes about it in a different way."

Australia and India will square off in the second Test in Adelaide, the venue where India were bowled out for 36 during the 2020-21 tour.

Recalling that match, Head said, "I remember that it was a quick Test, so it was good. We got to enjoy all of the bits of Adelaide afterwards. It'll be nice to do that again. Don't know if we can revisit. It wouldn't take very long to watch it. I don't think that will happen this week."

Australia last played a pink ball Test in January, while India played a day-night match against the Prime Minister's XI on December 1.

"It's been a long time since we played one (pink ball), India got another look at it last night. Everyone's well experienced enough, especially that team as well, that in your international level.

"I think you can accustomed to things pretty quickly. I don't think it'll take them long to be prepared for it, and same as us."

The swashbuckling left-hander believed that the hosts would recover from their dismal display in Perth.

"This team has dealt with adversity well. The small amount that we have had in the last three or four years, we have played well.

"We've had some challenging times and a couple of challenging Tests last year. We didn't have a very good week. That's fine. But we have got four more opportunities to do it, we will crack on as we do, as we have done for the last few years.

"Over the last couple of years, there's a lot of teams that lost the first Test or gone down in the series and brought it back and played really well."

By Salman Anjum - 02 Dec, 2024

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