By Karan Agrawal 
India’s fast bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah piped former England test captain Joe Root, Harry Brook, and Sri Lanka’s young left-handed batter Kamindu Mendis to win the ‘ICC Men’s Test Cricket Of The Year’ award. Bumrah who had a stellar 2024 across formats picked up the most wickets (71) in test cricket and was followed by England’s Gus Atkinson who ended the year with 52 wickets in addition to it Bumrah picked up the wickets at a strike rate of 30.1 and an average of 14.92. He is the first Indian fast bowler to win the award Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Ravichandran Ashwin, Virender Sehwag, and Virat Kohli are the other Indian players to win the prestigious award.
The Magician
Bumrah was truly the workhorse for India in 2024 in the longest format of the game as he bowled 357 owers across 13 matches and was impressive on overseas tours of South Africa and Australia. The Indian test vice-captain also played a vital role in the home series against England and Bangladesh. The right-arm pacer is only the second Indian fast bowler to take 70 or more wickets in a calendar year in test cricket with the other one being former World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev who picked up 70 wickets.
Deja Vu
Earlier this month Jasprit Bumrah piped Australian captain Pat Cummins to win the ICC Player Of The Month award for December following his exceptional performance in the Border Gavaskar Trophy where he single-handedly kept India in the game by picking up wickets whenever he came to bowl. Bumrah picked up 32 wickets in five matches before suffering a back injury on the second day of the fifth and final test in Sydney.
The Performance
If we talk about Bumrah’s performance across formats in 2024, the fast bowler delivered some crucial performances throughout the year starting with leading an inexperienced bowling attack in the home test series against England which was followed by a match-winning performance in the final of the T20 World Cup in June which helped India win its first world cup title after 13 years. Bumrah capped off the year with a memorable performance down under where he kept India in the series with his spirited bowling effort.