The Border-Gavaskar series may have ended on a disappointing note for India with several stalwarts failing to deliver when the team needed them the most during the 1-3 loss — their first in a decade, but one player left everyone speechless and earned praises from his teammates and opposition alike.

Star quick Jasprit Bumrah’s heroics on Australian soil, where he ended up with a spectacular tally of 32 wickets from nine innings of the 2024-25 BGT at an impressive average of 13.06, earned him accolades from the legends of the sport.

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Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting was among the admirers of the 31-year-old Indian quick, who threw down as many as 151 overs during the series, making it one of the best bowling performances by any Indian bowler in recent times. Bumrah’s act was perhaps the lone saving grace from an Indian perspective even as the rest of the team blew hot and cold across the five Test matches.

During his iconic run, Bumrah also overtook former India captain Kapil Dev to hold the record for most Test wickets by an Indian in Australia – 64 wickets at 17.15 compared to Kapil’s 51 at 24.58.

Ponting felt that Bumrah’s exploits are not only the best he’s seen of a visiting bowler in Australia, but probably the best fast-bowling display of all time. He even went to the extent of admitting that Bumrah made the Aussie top order look like a joke on multiple occasions during the series.

“No doubt, it’s probably the best fast bowling I’ve ever seen. Yes, they had good conditions, the fast bowlers, for most of this series. But when you watched him (Bumrah) bowl compared to anyone else in the series, he made batting look so much harder,” Ponting said in the ICC Review.

“There’s a lot of quality batting in that Australian top-order as well but he made all of them at different times look silly,” he added.

Bumrah, who had captained India to a win in Perth at the beginning of the series, didn’t bowl on the final day of the series in Sydney after experiencing back spasms on Saturday.

Dejected on missing out having a go in the second innings, Bumrah, who was deservingly named the Player of the Series, conceded post-match, “Little frustrating but sometimes you have to respect your body, you can’t fight your body.”

“Disappointing, probably missed out on the spiciest wicket of the series. I felt a bit of discomfort during my second spell in the first innings,” he added.

I was just getting Bumrah’d: Khawaja

Rating the world no.1 as one of the best he has faced in world cricket, Australia’s veteran opener Usman Khawaja had no hesitation in admitting that Bumrah’s absence (due to back spasms) on the third day of the Sydney Test, eased the pressure off his side during their chase of 162.

In Bumrah’s absence, the new ball pair of Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna leaked as many as 12 extras in their first two overs of Australia’s second innings, and in a way allowed the hosts to settle in during their chase.

“I was just getting Bumrah’d. It was tough work. I have to face this guy with the new ball every single time. you never want to see anyone injured and it’s a shame he was but thank God for us. Today would’ve been an absolute nightmare facing him on that wicket. As soon as we didn’t see him out there we thought ‘alright, we’ve got a chance here’,” Khawaja said.

“He’s the toughest bowler I’ve ever faced. And I have faced him in 2018. he got me out once, he was alright, he was good but he has been something else this year. He has got his tail up,” he added.

The 38-year-old Khawaja felt that Bumrah’s evolution from a rookie pacer in 2018 and his understanding of the game has helped him attain unimaginable heights in the past six years.

“The wickets have definitely helped him. He is 6 years older. He understands his skills, who he is bowling to. He has different plans for everyone. I always felt like no matter how good a bowler is I can always get something to score runs, but I did not get anything at all from him. He’s just so hard. I don’t have to face him again, thank God,” concluded Khawaja.