Bumrah finished 2024 with 71 Test wickets at 14.92, striking every 30.1 balls. No bowler in the history of Test cricket has taken as many wickets at a better average or strike rate. He helped India trounce England at home; was magnificent in short bursts against Bangladesh; bent the Perth Test match to his will after India folded for 150, and was the best cricketer on display across the next three Tests as well.

That, however, is Test cricket. India also won a T20 World Cup this year – their first global title across formats in 11 years – where Bumrah was not only the best cricketer (and an obvious choice as the Player of the Tournament), and not only did he average 8.26 (yes, in single digits) but he also went at 4.17 an over (that number would have been excellent even in ODIs in the 1980s); he also as good as controlled how the opposition batters responded against other bowlers.

It is important to understand this. In Test cricket, bowlers attack the wickets and batters defend. In T20Is, the roles flip – the batters attack the boundaries and the bowlers defend. Bumrah demonstrated his supremacy in these fundamentally opposite formats in every possible way: he had, with reasonable cut-offs, the best average, strike rate, and economy in both Tests and Full-Member T20Is.

Bumrah did not play ODIs in 2024, and the World Cup were his only T20I appearances (though he was the best bowler of the IPL as well). The handful of limited-overs international matches reflect India’s keenness to manage his workload. The great fast bowlers of the future are likely to restrict themselves to Test cricket, franchise leagues, and global tournaments – just like Bumrah in 2024 – but let us leave these speculations for another day.

Is Bumrah’s 2024 the best ever for a bowler?

Let us start with bowlers from 1980, the decade when ODIs began to gain in popularity. The 1970s had seen two World Cups, but as fixtures, they were mostly afterthoughts on tour itineraries.

To understand how sparse cricket used to be, let us consider Michael Holding in 1981: arguably at his fastest at that point, Holding averaged 15.07 in Tests and 19.62 in ODIs – but played only five and six matches in the two formats.

One team that was playing a lot of ODIs around this period was Australia, and Dennis Lillee had an incredible 1981: 85 Test wickets at 20.95 and 20 ODI wickets at 21.15 sum up his story. Sadly, Lillee’s incredible year is largely forgotten because of Australia’s famous defeat in Ian Botham’s miraculous all-round feats in that English summer.

Imran Khan played only nine Tests in 1982 – but that was enough for him to take 62 wickets (seven a Test) at a ridiculous 13.29. He had an excellent summer in England, where Ian Botham and Kapil Dev also thrived, but the most significant of his performances was his spell of 5-3 at Karachi on Christmas Day to leave the Indians shell-shocked. Sarfraz Nawaz had used it before, but Imran’s spell was the first great instance of reverse-swing at this level. That year, Imran also had 14 ODI wickets at 24.92 while going at 3.42.

In India in 1983, Clive Lloyd asked Holding which of the quartet should get the first over. Holding recommended Malcolm Marshall. There had already been glimpses of a superstar, but now he reached another level. In 1984, Marshall had 73 Test wickets at 20.15 – and that included ending Andy Lloyd’s career with a bouncer. From 17 ODIs, Marshall had 25 wickets at a shade under 20.

It can be argued that Joel Garner had an even better 1984. He did not have seven wickets a Test like Marshall, but Garner had 79 in 15 Tests – at 20.62. However, Garner’s ability to constantly target the throat or the toes made him one of the greatest ODI bowlers of all time: that year, he averaged 13.30 and went for 2.79 an over – ridiculous numbers even if one adjusts for inflation.

That year, and the next, was also among Richard Hadlee’s greatest. In 1985, Hadlee had 64 wickets in 10 Tests at 17.43 – including a stunning tour of Australia where he had five five-fors in six innings including a nine-wicket haul to pull off one of New Zealand’s most famous triumphs. In ODIs, he had 15 wickets at 23.13.

Waqar Younis could nail the yorker and move the ball – at times both at the same time – at rapid pace. All that made him the most exciting cricketer even when he was in his teens, in 1990. That year, his 49 Test wickets came at 17.04, along with 47 more in ODIs, at 12.63 and 3.75. In the shorter format, he struck at 20 balls a wicket – in other words, about thrice every 10-over spell.

Curtly Ambrose started bowling with a cricket ball very late, but was tormenting batters around the world almost immediately after making his debut. He had some exceptional years, but seldom in both formats at the same time – except in 1991, when he had 46 Test wickets at 22.89 and 30 ODI wickets at 19.03 and 3.44.

While not really their fault, none of them won a World Cup in these years, unlike Wasim Akram, in 1992. That year, he was also the highest-wicket taker of the tournament and decided the fate of the trophy with the most famous two-ball burst in a World Cup final. His 43 ODI wickets that year came at only 21.62 (and an economy of 3.81 – remember, this was when openers around the world were starting to take advantage of the field restrictions). There were only five Tests for him that year – but for 26 wickets at 22.88 and a famous, if controversial, series win in England.

This was also the year when Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralidaran burst into the scene. Warne stunned England in 1993 and ended the year with 72 wickets in 16 Tests (but played only five ODIs). The Warne phenomenon became firmly established in 1994 – when he had 70 wickets in 10 Tests at 18.20 and 50 in ODIs at 20.90. In 1999, the year of the World Cup, Warne was not at his best in Test cricket; and by the time he took 96 Test wickets in 2005, he had retired from ODIs.

Sri Lanka did not play many Test matches in Muralidaran’s early years, but when he got an opportunity, he demonstrated what the fuss had been about. In 1998, Muralidaran had 68 wickets in eight Tests at 18.47 – including 16 in South Africa at 25 and 16 more in the famous triumph at The Oval that forced the ECB to abandon the idea of hosting Sri Lanka for one-off Test matches. Two years after being a world champion, Muralidaran also had 32 ODI wickets at 22.81 that year. He would go from strength to strength in the new millennium, but 1998 was the year that marked his arrival.

It is difficult to pinpoint one year from the absurd career of Glenn McGrath, who averaged below 25 in every year between 1995 to 2007 whenever he had played more than five Tests. His ODI record is comparably absurd. McGrath’s career had no obvious peak but was, in fact, a very long, very high plateau.

What about Dale Steyn, then? Steyn’s Test peak was a long plateau as well – there are too many memorable years – but 2013 was perhaps his greatest across-format year. His nine Tests got him 51 wickets at 17.67, making it probably his best year in the format; but there were also 27 ODI wickets at 15.85 and 3.65 (in 2013!). There were also the figures of 14-1-77-7 across four T20Is.

There is no dearth of such entries in this great, diverse sport. One can go on. However, even by the lofty standards of these giants, it will be difficult to find a parallel to Bumrah’s in 2024.

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