Jasprit Bumrah took his 31st wicket of the 2024/25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy with the dismissal of Usman Khawaja off the final ball of the evening session of Day One at the SCG. He's now within reach of the all-time series wickets record for away bowlers in Australia.
Bumrah has been by far the stand-out bowler of the series, the leading wicket-taker from either team and nine wickets clear of Pat Cummins in second place. His average for the series currently sits at an extraordinary 12.64. His best outing of the series so far was the first innings in Brisbane, where he took 6-76, while he took nine wickets in both the third and fourth Tests.
The extent to which Bumrah has outclassed the rest of India's bowling cohort is huge, and is also a big contributor to the side of the series scoreline India find themselves on. Their next highest wicket-taker, Mohammed Siraj, has just over half the number of wickets Bumrah has on 16, and he is the only other India bowler with more than 10 wickets in the series. Three of Australia's pacers, however, have 15 or more wickets in the series.
With 19 more Australia wickets left up for grabs, Bumrah could well be approaching record territory by the end of the final Test in Sydney. His wicket of Khawaja put him level with Bishan Bedi for the record of the most wickets by an India bowler in a Test series in Australia. Bedi took 31 wickets at 23.87 across five Tests in Australia in 1977/78.
While Bumrah has a way to go to take the overall record for a touring bowler in a Test series in Australia, the record is not unachievable. It currently belongs to Maurice Tate, who took 38 wickets for England in the 1924 Ashes series. Bumrah would need eight more wickets across both Australia's innings (assuming they play both of those innings), to secure the record outright. The standout name on the list is Richard Hadlee, who is in joint third with 33 wickets across just three Tests in Australia in 1985. The only players with more wickets than that having played three or less Tests in any series are Sydney Barnes (South Africa in England 1912), and George Lohmann (England in South Africa 1895/96).
An exceptional performance from Bumrah would see him surpass the wickets record for any bowler in a bilateral Test series in Australia. That record currently belongs to Rodney Hogg, who took 41 wickets across six Tests in the 1978/79 Ashes series.
Most Test wickets for touring bowlers in a series in Australia
| Bowler | Team | Wickets | Tests | Average | Year |
| Maurice Tate | England | 38 | 5 | 23.18 | 1924 |
| Sydney Barnes | England | 34 | 5 | 22.88 | 1911 |
| Harold Larwood | England | 33 | 5 | 19.51 | 1932 |
| Richard Hadlee | New Zealand | 33 | 3 | 12.15 | 1985 |
| Curtly Ambrose | West Indies | 33 | 5 | 16.42 | 1992 |
| Tom Richardson | England | 32 | 5 | 26.53 | 1894 |
| Frank Foster | England | 32 | 5 | 21.62 | 1911 |
| Wilfred Rhodes | England | 31 | 5 | 15.74 | 1903 |
| John Snow | England | 31 | 6 | 22.83 | 1970 |
| Bishan Bedi | India | 31 | 5 | 23.87 | 1977 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | India | 31 | 5 | 12.64 | 2024 |
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