“I was just getting Bumrah-ed” every innings, says Khawaja after a torrid series that saw him become Bumrah’s bunny.
“I was just getting Bumrah-ed”. That is all Usman Khawaja could say about his dismissals in a woeful summer that saw him become Bumrh’s victim time and time again.
Khawaja was not overly concerned about playing Jasprit Bumrah when they entered the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The Australia opener believed that the fast bowler becomes easier to handle the more times you play him. In fact, in the seven Test innings that they had previously faced each other, Bumrah had failed to dismiss him.
But Khawaja said he “was just getting Bumrah’ed” after losing to the Indian fast bowler six times in eight innings.
“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.”
With 32 wickets at an average of 13.06 at the end of the series, Bumrah was the best wicket-taker and was rightfully voted Player of the Series.
However, he was limited to bowling nine innings, and due to back spasms in their opening innings, he was unable to play in Australia’s chase at the SCG.
Australia won with six wickets remaining without Bumrah, and Khawaja acknowledged that Australia felt more assured on a hot pitch after Bumrah was removed from the game.
“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 hailed the fast bowler’s improvement from his first tour of Australia in 2018-19.
“He was always good, he was a very good bowler [in 2018]. But he’s been something different this year,” Khawaja said. “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.”